Why Some Brands Seem Anti-Social

NEW YORK When Coke relaunched its Web site a year ago, it ditched a dry corporate venue in favor of a global YouTube-like outpost to celebrate consumer creativity with a series of monthly contests. Just one year later, the beverage giant has changed course, quietly closing down The Coke Show, the site’s challenge series, and launched a less ambitious site that links to Coke’s many Web destinations.

With brands ranging from cars to tequila to retail setting up community hubs, The Coke Show joins a growing list of cautionary tales, including Wal-Mart’s ill-fated social network The Hub and Anheuser-Busch’s Bud.tv,