When we talk about industries that haven’t yet figured out the social media space, the grocery business rarely finds its way into the discussion. The venerable U.S. grocery chain A&P may have changed that with one single remarkably stupid legal action.

Here’s the story: Two brothers—Mark and Matthew D’Avella—worked at an A&P in New Jersey (where their dad happens to manage the produce department). They’re also in college, where one is studying communication arts. Faced with a video production assignment, they decided to write and produce a parody rap video about produce. They bought items from outside the store and filmed when customers weren’t around, ultimately creating a pretty funny and well-made video that the pair published to their own site as well as YouTube:

The video is unquestionably raunchy; YouTube requires you to be a registered member and confirm your birthdate before you can watch it.

The video wasn’t getting a lot of traction (according to one of the brothers interviewed on CNN) until a customer saw it and complained to the company claiming to be “disgusted and distressed” and hence motivated to boycott the store.

The company’s reaction: Fire the brothers and file a lawsuit for at least $1 million. You can just see A&P’s President & CEO Eric Claus telling his lawyers, in his best Dr. Evil voice, “We’re going to see these young ruffians for one…million…dollars! In fact, Claus has gone on the record with this statement (which was not written by someone else, right?): “The video shows them licking, gesturing, and doing absolutely deplorable things with produce. This is in total contrast to the food safety standards that we uphold as a company.”

Well, yeah. And I’ve no doubt the D’Avella brothers also uphold those standards. But this was a parody. Claus and his lawyers might want to look that up. They may also want to note that viewership of the video (which A&P has demanded be removed) has soared since they made a big deal out of it and the widespread coverage isn’t making the store look too good.

And let’s not dismiss the fact that the grocery chain took its action based on a single customer complaint.

Rather than firing and suing (and getting a lot of press), A&P would have been far better off at least considering ways to take advantage of the brothers’ efforts. It would have been easy to make the point that the video doesn’t reflect the way A&P produce workers go about their work while spotlighting the talent of its employees. Playing up the video could have attracted college-age customers to their stores. Now, as 22-year-old Mark noted in the AP story, “If they lose any sales, it will be because of the way they treated two students.”

Indeed, it will be interesting to see if a Facebook activist group forms in support of the boys or calling for a boycott of A&P until they drop the suit. A&P may get its social media lessons the hard way. I’m not suggesting A&P has no grounds for its suit. It’s just not smart when the company could find ways to increase sales and attract new customers instead.

Of course, there’s also an opportunity here for Safeway or some other big grocery chain, isn’t there? Hiring the brothers and applauding their creativity could bring a surge of business, including the patronage of former A&P customers.