Social Media Is Not All Wild West

We often hear social media is a bit like the Wild West, full of outlaws where things happen fast and loose. Well, not always.

This past week in the lead up to Remembrance Day in Australia (Veterans Day in the US), the online discount site DealMe carried an offer for a photography course with heavily reduced  tuition prices.  Illustrating the offer was a selection of images taken by the people who run the training.  Among those images was a picture of the Australian War Memorial.

Australians view the Memorial as a special place that honours the men an women who gave their lives in the wartime service of Australia.  So the use of this particular image to advertise a sale - for completely non-related commercial purposes - would be regarded as insensitive by many people.  

The DealMe staff were contacted about the issue, recognised its significance, apologised and within minutes the Memorial image was gone .... off the site.

Internet selling certainly has its rogues gallery, but there are also many decent folks who respect the concerns of others. 

(Disclaimer: I do work for the Australian War Memorial)