Last month I looked into Social Media and the Rise of Reality TV and how production teams are using Reality TV to transfer their audience from one media to another and transfer online buzz into viewing figures…but what happens when Social Media goes wrong for Reality TV or, in this case, Reality TV messes with its audience?
All over the news this week The X Factor is being criticised for ‘breaking the rules’ and not listening to its audience. The show saw 2 of Cheryl Cole’s acts in the bottom two and the judge having to make a decision between her own acts. Although it has never been explicitly stated general protocol in this instance is for the judge with two acts in question to go last as if the other judges are unanimous in their decision it would save the judge, in this case Cheryl, having to through the ‘emotional’ turmoil of choosing between their own acts. This week saw the vote being thrown to Cheryl second and refusing to vote and if it came back to her then she would send it to ‘Deadlock’ where the original public vote would determine who would be leaving the competition. With Cheryl refusing to vote then the vote went to a majority vote (2:1) from the others sending home Treyc. ‘Outrage!’ cried the internet with thousands of complaints and status updates demanding that Cheryl Cole be replaced with another judge as they felt they hadn’t been listened to and that the voice of the public (their supposed 5th Judge) was being ignored and that they were being cheated.
So what should they have done at this point to try and salvage any respect from fans? An explanation of the rules should have been made clear to the public straight-off. If any business has any complaints with a customer surely a quick check over the terms & conditions/relevant document is the first port of call to, firstly, determine who stands in the wrong and where the issue is lying so that the situation can be resolved…and what did SycoTV, producers of X Factor, do? Announced that there are no rules! If a judge wants to abstain from a decision then they can…but why has this never been mentioned in 7 years? Further outrage was happening online from Twitter to Facebook and back around to Fan Forums. So what would have been the best decision to take to rectify the mess that was going on?
1) Replace a judge to save face even though they haven’t done anything wrong?
2) Issue an apology and a clear breakdown of the rules of the show?
3) Show that you’re ultimately puppet masters of all your viewers, or ‘customers’, strings and that the rules can change when you say they do?
The above looks like one of those questions during the adverts of prime time TV where the answer is obvious…number 2, yes? No. Believe it or not, a statement was made today by Dermot O’Leary advising that the Producers wanted act TreyC to go home and rehearsed, during the ad break, Cheryl Cole being unable to make a decision.
All of the above is a prime example of an absolute PR crisis and what has turned out to be one of the most controversial ‘public vote’ shows to ever be aired. It goes to show that listening to your customers and providing them with an honest answer in step one of any complaint will get you much further than declaring that the customer is wrong because, believe me, they certainly won’t seem wrong when Ofcom’s investigation begins later this week.