Motrin put an ad on its web site. It was incorrect and suggested that if wearing your baby hurts your back or neck, you need Motrin. Whereas you in fact need positioning help.

This sparked a storm of protests from Mums on Twitter.

It also generated lots of blog posts.

The ad was removed but damage has been done.

Companies need to create communities around their brand – private or public so that they can test out how these kinds of ads will be received.
Furthermore companies need Twitter accounts and/or a blog so they can respond swiftly when these things happen.  It could happen to you.  You need to be able to have a voice.

Show your PR/Marketing team this example. Maybe they would like to come on one of our social media executive briefing sessions to learn about how they can better engage with social media and help protect the reputation of your brands.