How Marketing Destroyed The Soul of the Poppy Appeal Online

A Lament

Showing Support

I sign up around 20th October to get me Poppy stuck on me @markinreading Twitter ID picture.

I assumed that it was from The Royal British Legion.

Turns out that it isn’t.

It’s from a bloke called JoshuaKAL, but who cares. markinreading Before markinreading After

Five Tweets That Started It

And there I was, twittering away on 29th October 2009 when @PoppySupport starts promoting #poppytyranny.

Seems, unpleasant to me, and not like The Royal British Legion at all.

Turns out, that it isn’t.

Then We All Got Confused

More Confusion The Day AfterSo I’m getting more confused...

@PoppySupport is massive and links to www.poppy.org.uk/support-us/new-ways-to-support

@LondonPoppy is barely active and shows no web page in its profile

@PoppyLegion links to www.legionlive.org.uk in its profile

@ poppy_man is least-used and links to www.poppy.org.uk

Different Poppies - More Confusing

And so many types of Poppy.

There’s even two types of Twibbon Poppy.

I’m well fearful now.

I Fear The Worst!

With all this fundraising and all these identities, I’m thinking......this is a:

FIELD DAY FOR HOAXERS

FIELD DAY FOR SPAMMERS

And I’m, like, whoa!

British Legion Home

I seek the definitive source – go to The Royal British Legion website!

www.britishlegion.org.uk

No problem.

But no reference to Twitter there.

www.poppy.org.uk/support-us/new-ways-to-support

Doesn’t list @PoppySupport

Doesn’t list @poppy_man

But the mobile number used by @PoppySupport checks out – so at least there is no rip-off going on.

@PoppySupport Is Devious

Everyone on Twitter should be open about who they are.

Especially the Royal British Legion.

@PoppySupport is not open.

Links to British Legion, yes. But not identifying who they are.

Yet they’ve achieved more online support than the Royal British legion did.

The Charity Commission

Charity number confirmed.

Name of organisation confirmed.

This becomes important later.

Search for PoppySupport

Search for “PoppySupport”

Nothing.

Search For PoppyMan

Search for “PoppyMan”

Nothing.

Search for PoppyLegion

Search for “PoppyLegion”

Nothing.

Search For Poppy_Man

Search for “Poppy_Man”

Nothing.

Poppy.org Front Page

On www.poppy.org I find the heart and soul of the Poppy Appeal.

This is what it’s all about.

But no mention of Twitter.

Images from britishlegion.org.uk

The voice of British Legion’s Web Agency

PoppyLegion Frontpage

So I visit PoppyLegion’s page on Twitter.

90 tweets – quite active.163 followers – not as significant as PoppySupport.

A bit trendy and cutesy.

Poppy_Man

Poppy Legion Introduces Herself

Poppy’s well cool, innit.

She’s got “hot new content”.

Cool signature.

Gr8 tweets n’ all.

Happenin’ chick.

I is well impressed coz she’s like me, aw’rite?

But She’s A Cartoon

But she’s a sham.

She’s not really blogging – the PR people at British Legion do that.

She’s not posting tweets.

On Remembrance Sunday, I’ll be remembering real people, not cartoon characters.

What is iChild???

This “iChild” thing leaps out.

What is it.

The iChild site lets my kids make Bravery Medals out of paper.

Nice.

So I click on the link to iChild ...

iChild – An Insurance Product!!!

This “iChild” thing turns out to be “operated by iChild, a division of family & Education Marketing Ltd” and “sponsored by Childsure”

Childsure is an insurance product for kids health underwritten by Aviva and offered by Sure Insurance Services ltd

The Real Remembrance Day Voice

“The weren’t lying or patronising”Simon Brown, injured soldier speaking on the 2009 Poppy appeal launch video

The sincere and honest reason why we are here:

“For Their Sake”

“Those lovely

people at iChild”

The False Remembrance Day Voice

I hear commercialism from Poppy Legion.

We need to sell insurance for private healthcare

She says “Those lovely people at iChild”.

This is sick.

A character which was a false construct, with a false blog, a false story and a commercial motive.

Is It Just Me?

And on iChild’s site:

Is making your own “bravery medal” or “making a poppy” the same as making bonfire night decorations or halloween bunting?

Is it?

Flickr – over 2,000 members and 12,500 photographs

YouTube – 26 videos, total views 5,400, most viewed video 2,382

Facebook – no action from Poppy yet

Other pages:British Armed Forces 49,139 fans

Action for Armed Forces – 961 fans

Armed Forces Day – 183,783 fans

Maximum Respect for the British Armed Forces – 562,931 fans

Bebo – 1 profile view0 comments0 friends

Known as:Poppy Legion <PoppyL8573>

The Poppy Appeal – Contrasting Feelings

www.legionlive.org.uk/blogwww.poppy.org.uk

The one on the left is real. It moves me. The one on the right is about raising money.

Embarassing Tweets From Poppy Legion

The PR Around Poppy Is Important