[Note: I have edited this to give it a title, and to shift the postiion of both original images so that they are not sitting at the bottom of the page.

My original intention was to update this blog post with screenshots of Black Milk’s responses, and detail why I found them problematic. However, I have decided that my time would be better used responding to Cam’s apology piece by piece. It will constitute as my second blog post on this subject as well as be the content of my email to Cam.

The below was originally posted on my personal Facebook page.]

Black Milk Clothing, here’s the thing:

WHO: Lo. One of your employees, authorized to post to your official Facebook page.

WHAT: Expectation vs. Reality meme, using the attached photo. Best case scenario, a meme misunderstood by the poster and incorrectly used. Worst case scenario, a meme completely understood by the poster and offensively used.

WHEN: Weekend of May the 4th, affectionately referred to by geeks and nerds the world over as Star Wars Day.

WHERE: Your official Facebook page.

WHY: We can assume the goal of Lo was to create engaging and topical content for your Facebook page.

The Expectation v. Reality meme translates directly to Ideal Goal v. Non-ideal Result. I have attached an example of this, and you can see from a basic Google search that this is the clearly-established usage of this meme. In its most basic form, it boils down to the tried-and-true Win v. Fail.

Give the definition of this meme, one can easily understand how individuals viewing this post on your Facebook page would interpret Lo’s post as calling the model shot on the left the Win, while referring to the Amy character from Big Bang Theory the Fail. In fact, if your social media gurus are well-acquainted with memes (and they should be, given their job description, and even more so if they are going to utilize them), then they will have already known that this is the only logical conclusion to be drawn from this image.

This is problematic because Black Milk is a company that has stated many times that its goal is to empower women, to give them confidence. The image can be assumed to be based on nothing more than looks, given that the Amy character has a personality that can be learned from watching the show whereas the woman on the left is a mystery to most, if not all of us. She even appears to be a mystery to the Black Milk employees on the Facebook page, as I have not yet seen any of them call her by her name, even while they do know and use the name Amy for the image on the right.

The caption with the meme, “When I attempt to be a “geeky goddess”…” further drives home the Win (left) v. Fail (right) interpretation of the image as the only logical one available

Most, if not all, of the above issue can easily be forgiven if Lo did not fully understand this meme when she created and posted it. Brands misusing memes is a fairly common thing in our age of digital and viral marketing techniques.

However, Black Milk is an online-only company that interacts with its customers almost exclusively through online communication. It is safe to assume that Black Milk employees, especially those working on the social media, are frequent and savvy internet-users who understand the usage of popular memes.

In fact the only thing in this scenario that suggests Black Milk may not fully understand the meme was the decision to make one image Star Wars and the other Star Trek. As you an see from my attached sample meme of the cake, that’s not generally how it’s done.

Even if the meme was used out of ignorance, the second portion of these events makes plain another issues that cannot be excused by ignorance - that is an issue of censorship. Yes, Black Milk does have the right to censor its Facebook page as it sees fit. However, that does not mean it is wise to delete comments and ban those who wrote them, simply for raising an objection to a post. Now, if any of these comments were truly abusive to the original poster or the company, by all means delete those remarks. However, censoring comments that are only letting you know that they find the content of the post objectionable is unwise. Your goal as a company is to retain customers, and to grow your customer base. While this does not mean bowing to every customer demand and request, it does mean that it would be wise of you to listen to your loyal fans when they are letting you know that something you have done is hurting that community that you have worked so hard to build.

The decision to delete and ban suggests only that you have something to hide. It also only serves to further anger those who were already upset, and to incite anger in members of the community that were not angry about the original transgression.

The facts of this post are simple: You violated your own community guidelines by posting this image and caption. Whether or not the original intent was negative, the follow-up delete and ban tactics have upset your customers and fans further.

Your course of action is this: 1. Stop censorship of the post, except in the case of true abuse. 2. Delete the post. 3. Acknowledge the original intent of the post if you wish, but much more importantly, accept responsibility for what you have done and apologize for the pain it caused.

A personal note from myself - I have been buying, wearing, and promoting Black Milk since 2010. Despite being a slender woman of 115lbs, I felt terrible and fat the first time I tried on the Bad Kitty Catsuit I had so excitedly purchased. It was a group of fellow Black Milk fans who brought my confidence back up and made me happy to wear it. That is what Black Milk is supposed to be.

[I will edit this and re-post it another time when I am not completely exhausted and in a rush. This original post will be kept up, for reference.]