Hydro-Québec was justified in asserting its opinion on social networks in the debate on inclusion which divides society, say communications specialists, but the state company could have refrained from arguing at length with its critics.
Vincent Fortin, president of the Republik advertising agency, Jessica Nadeau, professor in the marketing department at Laval University, and Jean-Jacques Stréliski, associate professor in the marketing department at HEC Montréal, believe that a company of the size and the stature of Hydro-Québec has every right to make its convictions and values known.
Hydro-Québec’s publication in support of the LGBTQ community last Thursday sparked an outcry from readers – and customers – who strongly advised it to focus on its role as an electricity producer and distributor rather than get involved in an eminently political and divisive debate.
“It’s a bit simplistic to say that companies cannot take a position on a modern issue like this,” says Vincent Fortin. A company like Hydro-Québec, which has 25,000 employees, certainly has some who are part of the LGBTQ community, and it is normal that it is interested in the issue of inclusion, according to him.
That said, it’s all in the tone used, he adds. “You have to see how it’s done. »
Hydro-Québec’s social media managers have made a reputation for arguing with their interlocutors, a method that Vincent Fortin describes as “very stiff.”
“It can be entertaining, but in the tonality, there are perhaps limits,” he believes. He notes at least one awkwardness in one of the interventions of Hydro-Québec community managers, who boasted of the fact that “the people behind this account have many university degrees.”
“You have the right to have an opinion even if you don’t have a university degree,” he notes.
Jessica Nadeau also points out that Hydro-Québec’s social media managers went a little far in the argument, after getting their message across. “If I had anything to criticize, it would be this,” she says.
“The violence and intolerance are disgusting,” Hydro-Québec spokespersons countered their critics.
Companies take risks when they venture onto social networks, underlines Jean-Jacques Stréliski. “It can get out of hand,” he says, especially when the subject is so “touchy.”
According to him, Hydro-Québec’s strategy on social networks “has paid off quite well” until now, particularly with younger customers. In this case, there may have been “a misplacement,” he adds.
The position taken by companies in the public debate is in tune with the times.
The risk is to alienate part of your clientele, she says, and that could go as far as boycotting products. This is what happened to Budweiser Light, whose association with a transgender influencer aroused the anger of part of the conservative right, who called for a boycott. Bud Light lost the title of best-selling beer in the United States, and the company’s revenues plummeted.
Nothing of the sort threatens Hydro-Québec, which is a monopoly and cannot lose customers. Hydro-Québec is not losing any customers as a result of this controversy, “but it is gaining detractors,” believes Ms. Nadeau.
The state-owned company can lose credibility with certain people and that can make a difference on a commercial level, believes Vincent Fortin. “If people have a negative feeling towards Hydro-Québec, they will be less sensitive to its speech, for example on energy savings,” he illustrates.
