It’s no secret that we all love a good social media mishap. It’s kind of like a train wreck, you just can’t look away. Unfortunately for these guys, once you put something on the internet, it’s out there forever! Luckily for us that means we were able to compile a few of our favourite fails for entertainment and educational purposes.
Here’s a list of social media fails. Enjoy!
Coca Cola
It’s never a good thing to piss off the Russians. Coca-Cola did just that after they sent out a tweet featuring a cartoon with a snow-covered map of the country. The map’s actually outdated, omitting Kaliningrad, which was annexed following World War II. Needless to say, the Russians were not happy with the company, as they posted pics pouring the soft drink into toilets with the hashtag #BanCocaCola.
Taxi Council of Victoria
As the taxi industry in Australia rallied against the disruptive onslaught of Uber, the Victorian Taxi Council hit upon the idea of asking people to share their taxi stories using the hashtag #YourTaxis. What could possibly go wrong?
Within hours the campaign went viral for all the wrong reasons. People used the hashtag to vent their hatred for Taxis and a laundry list of complaints were posted. Overcharging, filthy cabs and sexual assault to name a few! The Taxi Council bravely stated it had been a success in gathering valuable feedback from users.
LG
You may recall way back in 2014 when the iPhone 6 was released people became worried that their new iPhone 6 would bend and break in their pocket. LG tried to make fun of Apple by tweeting that LG phones don’t bend… but they sent the tweet from an iPhone.
Twitter CEO
This one’s a doozy! In late 2014 the CFO of Twitter, Anthony Noto, accidentally sent out a public tweet that was obviously supposed to be a direct message to someone. To make matters worse, it was about how he felt they had to buy someone’s company. Kevin Roose wasted no time in tweeting “M&A (mergers and acquisitions) fail”. We second that!
Qantas
Now for the grand finale! Who could forget the 2011 #QantasLuxury disaster? The problem here was timing, probably not the best idea to encourage an open dialogue in the Twitter-sphere just after grounding all flights due to industrial disputes. These tweets speak for themselves!
Long story short, if you release a hashtag into the Twitter-sphere, be prepared for all possibilities. After all, it’s a conversation not a monologue.
