Change.org Changes Business

This month's issue of Fast Company (September 2013, Cover: Jeff Bezos) includes an interesting story, "How Ben Rattray's Change.org became a Viral Consumer Watchdog" about change.org which bills itself as the world's largest online petition site.

While not all petitions gain the attention of executives, change.org promotes some notable successes in the aforementioned article:

• 45,000 individuals signed a petition criticizing Hasbro for making only "feminine" colored Easy-Bake Ovens. As a result, Hasbro began manufacturing gender-neutral colored ovens such as silver and black.
• When consumers responded to a petition criticizing 1-800-FLOWERS for its possible use of exploited overseas workers, the company introduced a line of fair trade bouquets.
• Verizon instituted a $2.00 fee for online payments but withdrew the charge less than 24 hours introduced when the petition against the practice when viral.

Additional victories not mentioned in the article include:

• A denial of a permit for a palm oil plantation in Indonesia
• New policies from Sprint to protect victims of domestic violence
• Installation of solar panels on the White House

Petitions represent a quick and easy way for stakeholders to target organizations, but they may have some drawbacks. Using petitions before other less public methods may put the organization on the defensive. Petitions on change.org may not be completely vetted or fact checked, so signatories should carefully review the claims. Finally, because the petitions are circulated via social media, and because there are so many petitions shared on twitter, facebook, and other sites, some individuals and organizations may experience petition fatigue.

Have you ever created or signed a petition directed toward a business? If you were a manager what would you do if you received a petition with thousands of signatures criticizing one of your practices?