White with two sugars and a revolution please

So according to Gaddafi "protesters… fueled by milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs" are responsible for trying to drive him from power.

The Twitteratti went into overdrive and Nescafe began, unusually for it, trending.

So how did Nescafe respond? How should they have responded?

What is social media for? Is it just a vehicle for brands, as so many do, to post something about a new product, an ad campaign or sponsorship every few weeks?

Or is it a chance to give a wider audience a better sense of the brand’s personality. If we go back to the brand architecture, a brand's tonal values are a key component. Tonal values are the brand's personality - a much broader definition than just what words and pictures the corporate identity guidelines allow us to use.

So doesn't social media give a unique opportunity for a brand to give its audience a better sense of its personality - its sense of humour, its agenda, its politics?

A great opportunity yes, but equally a great risk. To do it right, it needs treating with the same care, and messages crafted with the same skill as any other media - with brand at their heart.

Let's see what Nescafe do about it. It's interesting to note that they've been the first brand to take advantage of the new UK product placement rules with their £100k investment placing their Dolce Gusto coffee machine on the set of This Morning today.

Perhaps we can expect to see a big 'P' on future coverage from Libya.