With boycott Arizona calls becoming ear-splitting, the state’s tourism board has gone silent despite the social-media firestorm.
Arizona Iced Tea, erroneously enmeshed in the boycott-Arizona firestorm, quickly noted it actually is based in Long Island, N.Y., but the Arizona Office of Tourism has buried its head in the sand about the boycott issue on Facebook and Twitter.
As the backlash rages over passage Arizona’s new immigration law, which will require cops to check people’s citizenship papers if authorities suspect they are undocumented, and as some cities ban governmental travel to the state, the Arizona tourism board has chosen to delete any critical comments on its Facebook page.
The destination marketing organization (DMO) issued the following statement on its Facebook page:
“We realize that many people are interested in discussing the recent immigration legislation in Arizona, however, this page is run by the Arizona Office of Tourism, not a regulatory agency. We urge you to reference our rules of engagement as we will be deleting any political, inflammatory or derogatory comments. All the information we have at this time is located at the link below which we will keep updated.”
Thus, everything is just fine and dandy in Arizona, if you read the comments on the Arizona Office of Tourism’s page.
However, it appears political comments are OK on the tourism board’s Facebook page — as long as they are pro-Arizona tourism and don’t mention criticism that the new state law, slated to go into effect this summer, might be seen as racial profiling of Hispanics and violating civil rights.
For example, take a look at these Facebook updates from among the 22,000 fans of Arizona tourism.
Rita Reed Arizona, Your the best state in the US. I was born and raised in South Texas and know exactly what your citizens have been experiencing. As a 3rd generation Hispanic American, I am proud to be AMERICAN! I support Arizona!
Kathryn Parker Whetherhult I support you Arizona!
And, then, there’s this one:
Roland H Pesch I guess you thought my last query was political, as instead of replying, you deleted it.
Let me phrase it as neutrally as I can. I need TRAVEL INFORMATION.
If I go to Arizona, what documents must I carry to prove to your authorities that I am, in fact, a U.S. citizen?
In addition, with threats of travel boycotts, including cancelled meetings and conventions in the offing, you would never know anything was amiss if you took a look at @ArizonaTourism on Twitter, either.
On April 23, the day the governor signed the legislation, @ArizonaTourism issued one tweet.
Are you subscribed to the monthly Arizona Tourism Enewsletter? If not, view the latest at http://ow.ly/1BONO
Since that time, through April 29, with threats to the state’s tourism building, there has been only Twitter silence from the Arizona DMO.
It’s understandable that the board may not be well-positioned to get into a political debate about immigration policy, but a social media conversation would be preferable to withdrawal.
Meanwhile, several boycott Arizona pages, such as this one, have been popping up on Facebook.
And Arizona Iced Tea, erroneously caught in the crossfire, was a trending topic on Twitter.
While Arizona Iced Tea is based in New York, US Airways and Best Western are two prominent travel brands headquartered in Arizona.
Not a shining example of how to handle crisis management in today’s radically transparent world with empowered consumers ready to sound off at a moment’s notice. Just read a comment on iMediaConnections today about the need for a “social media war room” http://bit.ly/bhvf4M that might have come in handy for Arizona Tourism. Shows again the need for a real strategy before becoming active on the social web and being internally ready for using social media as an effective tool for exactly these situations would be a part of such a strategy.
P.S. Wonder how they would have handled this if your node Troy Thompson was still working there?
Hey Joe,
Ah, what a situation in Arizona.
Totally agree, they need to have some kind of strategy to address this issue. Social or not, the lack of response is not helping the perception of Arizona (tourism).
Already I have heard stories of conferences being canceled, subscribers requesting removal from Arizona-based tourism email lists and a number of negative comments on the state.
AOT certainly was not a part of this legislation, but they are part of the public face for the state.
At the same time, the budget cuts to the office have been tremendous. That, combined with what could be assumed as low moral and frankly a lack of leadership equals an agency that is too afraid to say anything aside from standard boilerplate.
I am sure we can all take a few lessons from this example, but on a personal level, it is disappointing to see something you built up come tumbling down.
- Troy
I disagree. It is not their place to say anything. They are the tourism office, and if they come out and support it, they will get a lot of backlash. If they come out against it…well they all lose their jobs for going against the Governor, the person in charge.
They have no better option than to ignore it. As someone that has run a very similar social site, it is better to just not address it. If the Governor wants to start a place, that is great, but not the tourism office.
Joe: The idea of a war room seems a good one, although I wouldn’t want to think of it in such dire terms. Arizona Tourism’s predicament points to the way a lot of organizations are getting into social media in a lets figure it out as we dabble with it strategy.
As a former co-worker sagely put it: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
The war room term wasn’t my invention as I agree it’s a tad strong, especially in the travel context. Like those 7 Ps!
Hi Dennis — If you’re finished wagging your finger, why don’t you explain what you would do if in the place of Arizona STO.
PW – in the first place, without meaning to speak for Dennis, he’s probably neither a racist nor a xenophobe, so it would be hard for him to put himself in the shoes of an organization that’s directly funded by the self-same body that passed the latest Arizona law on immigrant documentation — namely the Arizona State Assembly. However, let’s say he was, then maybe he’d at least have the integrity to assert verbally on the tourism website what that Assembly has enacted in state law. The problem with the Zonies is, they want to have their maximum tourism market and then discriminate against part of it too.
PW: I don’t expect the tourism board to say that the state law sucks or, conversely, that it’s about time the state cracked down on the undocumented.
But the tourism board could engage in conversation with critics and point out that the economic impact of a boycott might be unfair. That a lot of minority workers are employed by the state’s hotels and these workers would suffer if the properties had to downsize.
Or the tourism board could note that officials in Phoenix have expressed their opposition to the law — ie that Arizona is not a monolithic state inhabited solely by the tea-party crowd.
Or the tourism board could direct their Facebook fans or Twitter followers to follow up with state representatives.
There are a lot of nuances.
But hiding is not a workable strategy.
Can I continue wagging now?
By the way, I asked the tourism board for comment but still haven’t heard from their representatives.
I support Arizona all the way. Those who would bocott you are un American, in my view. I will come to youe state on vacation and will encourage my state of Fl. to follow your example.
@bob – un-American?!? oh please…
Stay strong Gov. Brewer…..
Best law signed in many years. My first vacation choice will be Arizona…
Bob: It’s so nice that you are an arbiter of what un-American is.
As I recall, there is a little document called the U.S. Constitution which gives people freedom of speech and the freedom to participate in boycotts or not.
Actually, if anyone were un-American it would be you — for ignoring the constitutional right to express dissent from the majority view.
It gives these rights to citizens….
I enthusiastically support the Governor and the citizens of the state of Arizona who have had enough. I pray that the state of Texas follows the lead of Arizona. GOD BLESS ARIZONA AND GOD BLESS TEXAS!
Should it be personally worrisome that the only part of this entire comment thread that produced a reaction had nothing to do with the thoughtful commentary, but rather the cringe-worthy realization that my Texas education system clearly failed to teach Linda that writing a sentence… any sentence… in all caps = epic fail?
Good grief. Carry on.
@sarah – sometimes it’s the only way people assume they can get heard
It’s a fascinating situation, to be sure. I certainly wouldn’t call it a social media crisis, because AZ Office of Tourism had nothing to do with this law, and has no role to play (directly or indirectly) in the politics of it. However, there’s no question that they’ve been dragged into this, and that’s not going to stop.
I don’t believe engaging with individuals per se is the answer, because Tourism is not the appropriate group to do so. But, I do believe Tourism (or someone in AZ Gov) needs to create a forum on Facebook and elsewhere where concerned citizens, potential visitors, etc. can get information and discuss the issues. So, I’d handle it like this on Facebook: “Thanks so much for your comment. This issue is complex, and many people are passionate about it on both sides. To provide an appropriate forum for those conversations, we’ve created a discussions tab. Please visit that section of our Facebook page to sound off.”
You’re acknowledging that you’re hearing people, without wading into the firing line. You’re giving them a forum to converse, without overstepping Tourism’s mission and capabilities.
Disclaimer: I have formerly done some consulting for AZ Tourism, although not directly on this issue.
Jay: That’s a good idea you have about the discussion forum.
Arizona Tourism’s approach of censoring and deleting critical comments is definitely is not the way to go.
Neither is being silent.
Jay, you’re hired — level headed solution. Dennis, you’re fired.
@emily – i do the hiring and firing around here. Dennis stays
Earlier today I sent Sherry Henry, Executive Director of the AZ Department of Tourism (ADOT), a link to this post. The department has had its budget decimated by the Arizona legislature and now they are an unwilling participant in this debate. Working in a government environment is different that working for yourself or in a corporate environment. All funding for ADOT comes from the legislators who approved SB1070, so I am sure the director is walking on eggshells regarding how to handle this. She certainly does not have the latitude that someone in, for example, Dell might have. That is just a fact of political life and should be considered when we entered into discussions of proper protocol for damage control on the Internet. Like the old saw, try walking in their shoes…
The private tourism industry sent out an email about SB1070 earlier in week.
@Kevin Glad you do!
@Jack I have worked in a government funded DMO and agree that there are limits in what the CEO can do in this kind of situation. Taking the lead on the opposition side is certainly not an option but that is not what is expected. As Dennis has suggested, there are available options to at least engage in the conversation and explain the short sightedness of boycott calls. Head in the sand is certainly not an option any longer. Might have been ten years ago with some PR person fielding the criticism but that is not today’s reality.
Joe, I actually think a head in the sand solution is the best way to attack any problem these days. The media turns so fast, people’s attention is so short, all one really has to do today is just stay quiet for a few minutes and everything will be fine, including even the most brutal of boycotts.
Does anybody here actually think there are people who planned on visiting AZ, aside from illegal immigrants, who are actually going to cancel their plans because of this? Two-faced politicians can move some government sponsored event from one place to another but I can’t really think of anyone who is going to seriously consider this type of a boycott in terms of their private plans. AZ has nothing to worry about.
Just watch any news channel at any give time…
“What Arizona is doing is terrible! We must all boycott them for making it illegal to be illegal! Oh, look, BP has an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico…trying to gas too many SUVs, are we? Shame on them! Boycott BP!”
Ophir: I think you have your head in the sand:)
Dennis: Wherever my head may be (not always sure myself), the point I am trying to make is that people’s and the media’s memory and attention span are just too short to make any big deal from this and if the AZ tourism board starts to negotiate and mediate with them about this new law, it will only prolong the storm which would otherwise end much sooner.
Ophir: I understand your point and remains to be seen whether the protests/boycott will be sustainable.
Here’s the thing: The tourism board is on Facebook. Facebook shouldn’t be viewed as an advertisement. The tourism board is retaining all supportive comments on Facebook and deleting all comments that are critical of the immigration law etc.
That’s not a winning social media strategy. You have to be open and transparent. There has to be a dialogue. I understand the limitations that the tourism board has, but if they are going to be on Facebook, then they have to be open to conversation.