*UPDATE! We have a happy ending!

I’ve really caused some havoc over on the Altoids Facebook Page today. Here’s how it went down:

•I posted the Altoid drawings I’ve been doing on their Facebook page, simply as a “Hey look what I did isn’t it cool check it out” kind of thing.
•They deleted it.
•I posted it again, this time with a disclaimer not to eat ink (duh) and I reshot the Altoid drawings without the middle finger Altoid, in case that was the cause of it. (That is the image in this post.)
•They deleted this too.
•OK. So at this point I’m thinking they really have a problem with this and I don’t know why. So I decided to try one more time only instead of a picture, I’d just describe the Altoid drawings. No harm there right? So I posted this:

“Ok, I get it, you don’t want a picture of Altoids with drawings on them on your Facebook page for some reason. Fair enough. What about a description? Just picture it - a bunch of cute little drawings/designs on Altoids. There are little faces, hands, symbols, patterns, doodles, etc…Pretty cool huh. People seem to really enjoy them, enough that they visit & like your Facebook page and give you and the idea some love. I’m just saying. :)”

This is when things got interesting. They did not delete this. That post got a bunch of likes and the Altoids Facebook page proceeded to get hammered with comments wondering where the drawings went, where people could purchase them, and so on.

Which leads me to ask: Who is managing the Altoids Facebook page? Why were the drawings removed? It’s an interesting study in social media interaction between customer and brand. Why has nobody reached out to me or said anything on their page? It’s just a little weird is all. You would think a brand as quirky and irreverently marketed as Altoids would “get” something like this. But somebody over there deemed it not OK for their Facebook page.

Which only makes me want to try harder to make this into a reality. Who knows, maybe they’re not interested - and that’s perfectly fine. But I look at these goofy little drawings I did on mints (drawings. on mints. how silly is all this?!) and I see an opportunity.

But hey, at the very least it’s still fun to cause a bit of a ruckus for a large company.

*Update. I wrote this to Altoids on their FB page too and thought it was relevant for this post:

Dear Altoids (or Altoids Facebook page manager). An open letter from Chuck Anderson of NoPattern:

Hi. I really like your product. You do realize the drawings are meant to be fun, creative, and put Altoids in a positive light, right? I hope you realize that, because it’s true! It’s not like I wrote “Altoids stink!” on the Altoids. I drew fun little pictures, like hands, a baseball, a spirally thingy, and a chubby guy’s chubby little face. These drawings are resonating with people, because people like art and people like Altoids. That is a good thing! The point of a Facebook brand page is to engage customers and an audience. That’s what’s happening here, don’t you see! Won’t you get in touch? Or let me re-post the picture with a disclaimer of your choice? Or something?

♥ forever Altoids, you’re the man (mint)
Chuck