It was a mere two days ago that Fly on the Blog included a post on @MidtownKrogers with the words, “This parody account is a cease and desist order waiting to happen.”
Indeed. A visit to that Twitter account now yields the message: “Account suspended.”
@MidtownKrogers, the week or so it was up, had gathered a fawning fanbase of 400-plus, with grammatically poor and often nonsensical tweets, such as “There are a lots of midtown grocerys to chose but alike some people we always fresh cereal and no bees. #cost_saver #bees #freshpromise.”
Joe Bell, manager of marketing and public affairs for Kroger Delta, confirms that a request was made by Kroger’s corporate headquarters in Cincinnati that the account be removed.
Bell deems the situation as “not a huge deal,” saying that the main concern was that people might mistake @MidtownKrogers for an official account run by Kroger.
“Someone may say something down the road that really didn’t represent Kroger, and at that point, it’s a little too late to step in and say that’s not us,” says Bell.
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Among Twitter‘s “suggestions” for parody and fan accounts is “The bio should include a statement to distinguish it from the real identity, such as ‘This is a parody,’ ‘This is a fan page,’ ‘Parody Account,’ ‘Fan Account,’ ‘Role-playing Account,’ or ‘This is not affiliated with…'”
@MidtownKrogers’ bio included only the Union Kroger’s address.
Reaction to @MidtownKroger’s suspension bordered on dramatic.
No one shop at Kroger until all tweeting rights are restored to @midtownkrogers.
— Beth Spencer (@bethykins) September 26, 2013
But wait … it appears we may not be done with @MidtownKrogers, after all.
