Earlier today I reported that a Facebook fan page for the proposed Chihuly museum, called Chihuly at the Needle, was offering anyone who signed up a $25 gift certificate to eat at the Space Needle restaurant. The people behind it weren’t identified with any contact information on Facebook or an adjoining website. But whoever they were, they were creating the pretense of popular support (apparently by providing gifts to people who join) and meanwhile lobbying to change city policy. A post today said, “We have also included a feature that makes it easy for you to send an email voicing your support for the project to the Seattle City Council.”
When I asked a consulting firm working for the museum who is sponsoring the page, Space Needle spokeswoman Mary Bacarella wrote back to me, indicating that the Space Needle—which is behind the museum project—is also behind the lobbying websites. Here’s what Bacarella wrote:
We do these promotions periodically on our Space Needle Facebook page and we also posted it on the Chihuly at the Needle page.
It makes sense for the Space Needle to offer its fans a promotional discount: The Space Needle restaurant already exists; it could legitimately have customers who are fans (fans with no taste buds, perhaps, but fans); and those fans deserve perks. But it doesn’t make sense to give restaurant gift certificates to Chihuly museum fans. Unlike the Space Needle, the museum doesn’t exist; even if it did, there’s no reason someone who likes Chihuly would deserve a free crab cake. Moreover, the potential museum is a source of a political debate and the website is engaged in lobbying one side of that debate. Offering gifts to people who join the political group appears to be an outright bribe. I asked Bacarella to address that three times, and finally heard back:
I talked to our folks and found out what happened. I’m going to be posting a response in the comments section of your blog. But essentially, this is what happened: Our social media team, which manages the Space Needle’s Facebook page, created another fan page early this month specifically for the Chihuly at the Needle project proposal. When they did that, the Space Needle’s typical promotion offering $25 coupons for Sky City was transferred to the new page. When this mistake was discovered (within 24 hours), the promotion was removed immediately. Out of 1,535 fans of the Chihuly at the Needle Facebook page, only 20 requested the coupon.
The Space Needle’s restaurant promotions have absolutely nothing to do with the Chihuly proposal. The Space Needle often gives away coupons, in person and online, to promote the Sky City restaurant.
I hope this helps clarify the situation for you.
Having never published a Facebook fan page, I can’t vouch for the plausibility of this explanation that if you create one fan page, promotions are transferred to the new page, too. But that’s the official word from the Space Needle.
Apparently when you build a Chihuly factory outlet store “museum” in Tacoma, one gets transferred to Seattle too by default.
Like a Bed, Bath and Beyond franchise, or Taco John’s. Same thing. Look out, Vancouver. You’re next. You’re fucking next and it’s no use screaming because no one can hear you.
Well, who can blame them for trying to drum up support? Anyone who would pay to see Chihuly is squarely in the Space Needle’s dream demographic: not price-sensitive and lacking good taste.
Plausibility = 0.
But that’s what PR people do. Ethics? Their whole worldview is based on the presumption that everyone in the world wants to hear about their exciting new whatever, or will once they hear it.
Reminds me of the episodes in the novel by Robert Penn Warren, “All the King’s Men”, in which men who voted for a certain candidate were given free booze. Fiction, but based on actual practice.
Tired old fucking story…
That story about facebook is pure face-saving bullshit.
Step 1) Check with Facebook to see if it’s possible
Step 2) When they say it’s not, call City Council
Step 3) ??????????
Step 4) Chihuly Museum gets no public funding.
When the Stranger wants to AstroTurf for their pet cause on facebook it’s ok. Get it? Good.
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
“How long until the first “Rob McKenna Does Not Represent Me” page appears on Facebook?”
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives…
At 4:16 p.m., Eli asked, “How long until the first ‘Rob McKenna Does Not Represent Me’ page appears on Facebook?”
Well, not long. Please enjoy the group “Washington Tax Payers OPT OUT of Rob McKenna’s lawsuit.”
‘Jeff’ is to ‘analogy’ as ‘Chihuly’ is to ‘art’.
@6: Unless I’m mistaken, Chihuly at the needle isn’t asking for and won’t receive any money from taxpayers. They are asking to lease space from the Seattle Center. The land (and presumably the improvements to the land) will remain ours. This is the same arrangement as the previous tenant, the fun forest. The controversy is that some people are feeling bamboozled, and they might not approve of the actual use of the land.
@7:
SLOGGERS don’t “astroturf”, as that implies sending the exact same copied complaint X the number of SLOGGERS who send it.
SLOGGERS are perfectly capable of creating completely original rants and tirades; anything politicians get from us will be uniquely and particularly our own.
Jeff, could you point me to the page where I can get free food or whatever for joining that anti-McKenna group?
They should build an Art Wolfe nature photography museum/gift shop instead. I’d totally pay to look at mountain goat photos after a couple rounds up on the needle.
Could sending a $25 certificate for support of the “museum” be against the law?
I guess I have no taste buds. When I ate there it was really good!
I have created several facebook pages for my clients and can tell you without reserve, that it is impossible for one stream to cross the other without deliberately syncing an RSS feed to it. The only other plausible explanation, is if the gift certificate offer was entered in hootsuite (or another similar application) and the poster checked the wrong feed to send it too. That is possible. But if it happened more than once, then there was a deliberate choice to do it.
no taste buds? I’m solidly against this chihuly nonsense, but no need to bash the food at sky city. I know they have a bad reputation with the locals, but the food there is awesome. definitely not the garbage they were serving there 10 years ago.
@12:
Art already has a museum – er, gallery – in SODO. I don’t think any taxpayer owned property was taken to subsidize it, though.
(FTR, I have a signed Wolfe print of Les Drus hanging in my office – it’s much nicer to look at than a blob of colored glass, and was actually created by the guy who’s name is on it.)