Brand advocates turned brand terrorists

Despite their best efforts, the prepubescent Belieber troops couldn't stop their beloved leader from being instructed to tour North Korea. Needless to say, Justin never took his show to the isolated Asian dictatorship, but the damage was done and the
competition made into a joke.

We at BrandsEye followed this Bieber prank closely, our attention captivated by the power of the masses when they work together towards a common goal, even if that goal is as frivolous as punking a teenager singer.

Justin's PR team took the stance that they would not comment on the singer's failed attempt to reach out to his fans through the competition and opted rather to ignore the problem completely. This state of silence can be excused - arguably no one was really hurt by this PR and ORM faux pas - although one does feel some comment on the situation should have been forthcoming. For us at BrandsEye who preach engagement this seemed like a weak strategy.

August saw one Miss Sydney Dalton along with her two friends, all self-proclaimed Beliebers and card-carrying members of numerous Bieber fan clubs, upload a video of them tearing down their Bieber posters. Sydney a teenage girl growing up and simply out growing the most recent fad, could never have imagined the subsequent attack that would be levelled at her by the Belieber Army, subjecting her to one of the worst cases of cyber-bullying to date.

One could excuse Sydney for not foreseeing the effects of her actions. After all, who would predict that an innocuous video of you and your friends messing around would make you the top Twitter trending topic or generate 4363 mentions about you, exposing your name to 7,420,785 people (figures compiled through BrandsEye tracking).

What has been most alarming about this sudden rise to online notoriety is the nature of the conversation. Twitter and Youtube have been a-buzz with a steady stream of threats and slurs directed at Sydney Dalton. There is no denying that the Belieber Army have launched a full scale online attack on Sydney, continuing to harass her over the last several days.

The continuous bullying of Sydney Dalton has seen the online community come to her aid. While there are still many who vilify her, there are also those who have rushed to her defense, providing support in the form of tweets and Youtube videos and putting down those who have attacked her.

As the situation unfolds, it appears that it is Justin Bieber's reputation that is ultimately suffering. Once again, the teen musician has taken a no-comment approach to the situation leaving his followers to attack Sydney Dalton. One can probably rest assured that, if Justin did come out and condemn the behaviour of his fans, the bullying would stop. One can't help but wonder why Bieber has not been more vocal about how he opposes this cyber-bullying.