You know Nike.
Sneakers, athletic clothing, branding geniuses.
They came up with a #MakeItCount Twitter campaign this year for their United Kingdom region.
The local advertising watchdog got a complaint and had the entire program, including Tweets from athletes, shut down.
My first reaction: “What the Tweet is that about??” 
Aren’t all Tweets, on some level, ads?
140 characters about what we want the world to think of us as people, brands or public entities.
140 characters on who we are, what we believe and where we are going.
It’s just that the vast majority of the “clients” are ourselves. So why the uproar when a brand “places” a Tweet?
Let’s examine the definition of advertising, shall we?
Via Wikipedia: Advertising is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group of people) to continue or take some new action.
How is that different than me posting a link to an article a friend wrote because I want people to see it?
Would it be different if the friend kicked over a few bucks for the Tweet? (And, friends with blogs, I’m working on my baby‘s college tuition, so, *wink wink!*) [That is a joke, obviously. I do accept products to review, but don't do sponsored posts on this site.]
If Nike sponsors an athlete and part of the deal is that the athlete will toss a Tweet or three with a link to their latest ad campaign, what is the big frickin’ deal?
I’m going to Tweet the link to this blog post. Because I want people to read it. In fact, there is a good chance you saw this post because of the link on Twitter. I encourage you, if you found this interesting, to Tweet it, too. And all of those Tweets will be ads. I just won’t be paying you. Sorry. Baby needs a college fund.
(Mar…
Actually, I saw it as a link on Google+ -- but an interesting take just the same. I like the point you make -- and it's given me much to think about. What I am pretty certain of is that the UK is over the top for shutting down the campaign. No wonder UK companies are adopting social media at a far slower rate than the US. Policy sometimes, stifles business.