LoveDaPop, recent Dragon’s Den candidates, recipients of £70,000 of investment from Peter Jones and Saatchi & Saatchi London employees have shown just how utterly shit they are at social media.
They cynically attempted to promote their product on the back of the London riots:
They’re not the first to try such a stunt, which makes it all the more idiotic. Didn’t they read AdAge’s post about Kenneth Cole pissing off all of Twitter with his tweet about the Egyptian riots? Did they think that Econsultancy’s piece on Habitat riling Twitter when they spammed the hashtags #Iran and #Mousavi?
They then went on to:
- Delete the “ill-advised” tweet (seriously, LoveDaPop, ill-advised? That’s as strongly as your prepared to word your mea culpa?)
- Post another tweet, which still marketed their popcorn, albeit offered it for free to #riotwombles & #riotcleanup. Even setting up a new email address for it.
- Post a tweet apologising for the “ill-advised” tweet and stating that they want to “help in any way we can”
The Effects of Being an Arse in the Social Space
At the time of writing this, my Twitpic has had around 1250 views in the space of about an hour. That’s one person every 3 seconds getting exposed to the message, you could say it has gone a bit viral, not a lot, but a bit. Those views come from, believe it or not, only 44 tweets as the screengrab below shows (screengrab from the frankly wonderful Trak.ly):
Whereas, LoveDaPop’s special email address they set up to offer got exactly ZERO retweets:
What LoveDaPop Could / Should Do to Redeem Themselves
It’s not about deleting tweets, it’s not about apologising, it’s not about saving face. They said they want to “help in any way we can” yet it would appear they don’t have a clue about what they can actually do. Well, here are some pointers, for free:
- Since you’re in London, get off your arses and go help people on the ground.
- If you can’t be arsed to get involved in realtime, get involved on Twitter, don’t leave it at that one tweet.
- Get someone who has a clue to educate you a bit in social media manners
Only, don’t come to me looking for help. You’re on my banned list. As is anyone else who could possibly entertain the thought that trying to market popcorn on the back of rioting, looting and human suffering is in anyway even remotely acceptable no matter the medium you use to do it.
I love you for finding this – hells teeth these people need a lesson – and let me tell you that we’re big fans of popcorn in our house (and clearly Cinema visits) want anything to do with this lot after learning this – NOT A CHANCE!
Join the list of ignoratti – eejits.
I completely agree with jumping on trends and PR waves to boost a brand / product / offer but to consider a:
1. Conflict (Habitat)
2. Natural Disaster (Kenneth Cole)
3. Riots (sorry I’ve forgotten their name already)
Is tantamount to brand suicide.
Thanks for the comment Colin!
“Suicide” may be a bit hyperbolic, but it is certainly harmful.
Whatever the medium used, there are only some people cynical enough to even think of doing such a thing. Many people seem to think that tweets are ephemeral, they’re not.
Hiya,
I spotted a singer/band called @Ikedakid promoting themsleves yesterday by saying that people shouldn’t riot, they should listen to @Ikedakid’s music instead. I pulled his up on it got a reply saying they were horrified by what was happening and were only trying calm the situation down.
I then got a couple of other tweets today from his/their followers telling me if I followed them properly, I would see they’re not like that and I should take back what I said! Nope! The tweet I saw had been retweeted by someone but that makes it even worse that they didn’t realise it could be taken out of context.
I agree with Colin above that this one wasn’t done in a malicious manner either, it was done in a stupid, ignorant manner and if I ever actually hear their music, I’ll forever think of them at ignorant and dumb.
Hi Steve and thanks for your comment!
The question of context is one that becomes all the more relevant when we talk about Twitter – tweets are by definition quotable stand-alone soundbites.
We do all make mistakes, the thing to realise is, on Twitter, immediate, absolute retraction and apology is the only way to deal with fallout. Trying to save face only further enrages the crowd.
Shameful…
Thing is there’s a right way and a wrong way to hijack a popular hashtag, but to do it the wrong way when the topic relates to fear and human suffering…. you’ve got to be a Social Media retard. Saatchi & Saatchi have really made a Poop out of this Pop.
Had they, for example, tweeted:
“We are shocked about the #londonriots. We’re following #operationcleanup closely and as well as getting involved will be sending free popcorn to everyone else who does”
Instead of:
‘Hey guys, stealing some telly’s? What you like! You don’t have to steal popcorn though, cause all you have to do is subscribe to our list to get free samples! We’re cool like that!’
So true, Dave.
The thing is it’s not even social media knowledge, it’s just plain common sense that you don’t do that…
… on the other hand… good to see that they rectified it!
easy tiger dont be so sensitive! no wonder businesses are so nervous about getting involved in social media, worried theyll get flamed for innocuous tweets linked to current events.
its opportunistic but hardly offensive
Thanks for your comment Jas :)
I suppose we’re in disagreement about ‘innocuous’ and ‘offensive’.
To me, it’s anything but innocuous to market products off the back of human suffering.
With my personal take on the ethics of it aside, let’s take a look at the mindset of Twitter:
There is more than one very public precedent of such stunts blowing up, see Kenneth Cole & Habitat. Businesses, generally, spend a little time and effort in their marketing and PR efforts. Social media is no different, in that it requires a bit of thought beyond “let’s get attention, no matter how”