It may be hard to measure the success of Social Media Marketing. But you can spot a social media campaign disaster from a mile away. Here are the 5 that caught our eye in 2012.
1. Mcdonalds
Mcdonalds’ disastrous social media campaign launched in January 2012. The restaurant wanted fans to share their great dining experiences using the promotional hashtag #McDStories. Only this backfired when fans decided to show they weren’t lovin’ it by sharing their horror stories instead.
2. Waitrose
This campaign launched in September 2012. Waitrose invited it’s customers to finish the sentence, “I shop at Waitrose because..” Hoping that their customers would say they preferred Waitrose to other supermarkets. Only that’s not what happened. Tweeters ridiculed the posh supermarket with tweets following suit from this, “I shop at Waitrose because it makes me feel important and I absolutely detest being surrounded by poor people.” I still find these tweets hilarious!
3. Susan Boyle’s Album Party Campaign
In November, Susan Boyles PR team unknowlingly invited people to send questions to ‘sus anal bum party’ with the promotional hashtag #susanalbumparty. When they finally realised the terrible thing they’d done, they quickly changed it to #SusanBoylesAlbumParty.
4. CelebBoutique
In July, UK based online retailer CelebBoutique posted the tweet, ” #Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress 😉 Shop: celebboutique.com/aurora-white-pleated-v-neck-strong-shoulder-dress-en.html …” Under normal circumstances they would have probably gotten away with that tweet. However, they didn’t check to see exactly what the #Aurora trending topic was actually about so they missed that it was about the Aurora Batman Shooting. Yes, they came across as VERY insensitive.
5. Wilcoxson’s Ice Creams
In September, when a muslim customer posted a question on Wilcoxson’s Ice Cream’s Facebook asking if the company used pork based gelatin in their ice-cream. The company president Matt Schaeffer simply replied, “We don’t deliver outside Montana, certainly not Pakistan.”
The furious customer replied,
“What are u talking about!!??? I think.ur comment is rude to assume i live in Pakistan,’ he wrote. ‘I live in Sheridan but just because of your ignorance i wont buy your ice cream and definetly wont recommend it.”
Wow some of these are absolutely hilarious. Others are just shocking. What are your most memorable Social Media Campaign fails in 2012?
(Images Courtesy of Nima Badiey)