The Social NetPlots

Click "I detest it"

Image by Frits Ahlefeldt-
Laurvig  under
Creative Commons 
License

The Social Networks seems to be a fertile ground for innovation in matter of complaints and protests.

A mixture of creativity, humor, and ease gave an unpredictable turn to the disappointment and anger that aroused by a discriminatory act in a small Texas town some months ago.

Indeed, a gay couple stopped to have breakfast at the Big Earl City Pittsburg, Texas bar last May. The waitress (she was the owner's daughter) came over to tell the couple that they would not be welcome next time as the restaurant "does not provide services to f*#s". By the way, in front of the restaurant there is a sign that reads  "Welcome to Big Earl Where Men act like Men, Women act like ladies, not saggy pants, we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone",  which in Simple Creole tantamount to saying:  "if you're gay or black, best keep driving . " With such idiosyncrasy, it doesn’t come too difficult to imagine the impact that would have caused to the owner of the local the reaction of the gay community: instead of publicly ousting the place, and launch a derogatory campaign against it, they turned to social media to sponsor the restaurant as a fantastic destination for those gays looking for a good breakfast in town.

Perhaps you're familiar with social networks that are, at once, portals for reviews and criticism for various premises that provide products or services to consumers (restaurants, gas stations, retail outlets, etc). In the case of Big Earl's the virtual stage protest that was chosen was  Yelp (a review portal and information guide popular in the United States). The end result was that the corresponding page to this restaurant ended up looking more like a political grandstanding than a list of recommendations and suggestions. Perhaps this was the reason that Yelp’s executives finally cleared away much of the comments. However the consumer backlash worked, and still parading through the door of Big Earl myriads of gay couples line up to get sure that the restaurant’s manager never forgets the lesson.