What I've learnt from the douchebags at GASP

So we're all sick of hearing about the GASP situation. It got a whole lot of media exposure, and we all know the story: woman goes into store, store assistant is a wanker, woman sends complaint, reply shuts her down.

Whether or not the story is a media exercise is yet to be proven yet, but I've actually learnt something from the situation. Whilst GASP has executed the situation rather poorly, it's made me realise that it is actually ok to stick up for your product every once in a while. Most often, a complaint via social media or email is met with an apology. But is the customer always right? When you have a successful product that has been operating and growing for a long time, and you get a hollow complaint about your product, is it ok to defend yourself?

The GASP situation has made me rethink my attitude toward dealing with negative feedback. I think, when you have a brand that has proven to be successful, it is ok to stick up for yourself! What do you think?

Junkies, Bogans & Scum...Some good (?) PR for Metro

So if you're reading this, you're probably a Gen Y, constantly online, internet jockey (like me)...so you've probably already seen this story that was posted on The Age about 10 seconds ago...(no, not literally)

A small production company in Melbourne have produced a mock film trailer, for a movie about the danger, action and drama of being a Metro train inspector.

See it here:

There's no doubt that this is hilarious, and if you've ever travelled on the train system in Melbourne, there are a few bits in this that are a little too real!

So, this short video, which has no affiliation to Metro (as far as we know) has gone viral, and is getting some great publicity. I would argue that this is doing good things for Metro, as it has the underlying rules of the train system - validate your ticket, don't step over the yellow line, no alcohol on the platform, and the fundamental rule that there's nothing at the end of the line but "junkies, bogans and scum"

What do you think? Has Metro got something to do with this? Is this good for their PR or not? Post below!