Social Media Disasters of 2017
- United Airlines
- Dove
- Adidas
- U.S. Department of Education
- Pepsi
Everyone has made at least one mistake on social media, whether it was accidentally offending someone or uploading the wrong picture, but when social media marketing mistakes happen to major companies, the brand’s reputation is at stake. 2017 is not exempt from the whirlwind of social media fails, and the following are the five most well-known mistakes that can help us to learn about the dos and don’ts of social media management.
1. United Airlines Makes a Major Goof
If you follow the news at all, you’re aware that United Airlines hasn’t had a good year thus far, and it all started when passengers took a video of security forcibly dragging a man off an airplane when he was randomly chosen to vacate his seat for maintenance workers for the airline, and he subsequently declined. Not only did the sharing of the video on social media cause an outrage and tarnish the airline’s reputation, but things got worse when Oscar Munoz, CEO of American Airlines, issued a victim-blaming, cold apology in which he praised airline employees for following the correct procedures. Regardless of whether employees acted according to company policy, these situations can be delicate and often require understanding and warmth across social media, and United Airlines didn’t deliver.
2. Dove Ruins its Body Image
In early May, Dove went viral — and not in a good way. Dove announced that it would be reshaping its shampoo bottles to resemble the different body types of women. Although Dove reported that it was part of the company’s continued efforts to redefine modern-day standards of beauty, consumers were less than thrilled. To many women, this move exploited the very female insecurities that it claimed to destroy as it indirectly confirmed that there were “correct” body types.
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3. Adidas Doesn’t Think About its Word Choices
This marketing mishap came down to a simple and likely innocent but extremely poor choice in words. Following the 2017 Boston Marathon, Adidas tweeted, “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!” This tweet, though probably well-intentioned, inadvertently recalled memories of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. However, rather than ignoring the social outrage that quickly ensued, the company was able to recover by immediately removing the tweet and issuing a sincere, heartfelt apology.
4. The U.S. Department of Education Needs a Proofreader
There are two sides of the public — those who are self-proclaimed “grammar nerds” and those who are not. Although some might think that spelling errors aren’t that important on social media, if you’re the U.S. Department of Education, they matter. In 2017, the Department of Education misspelled W. E. B. DuBois’s name in a tweet. To make matters worse, they then wrote “apologizes” instead of “apologies” in their follow-up apology tweet for the misspelling in the first place. Yikes.
5. Pepsi Fails to Understand the Black Lives Matter Movement
Pepsi released a controversial ad in 2017 in which the company missed numerous warning signs during its erroneous attempt to market its product. Although the company had intended to do so against a backdrop of police brutality protests with the intention of appearing peaceful and understanding, consumers were outraged. Immediately, social media was swarmed with users calling for a Pepsi boycott, accusing the company of failing to understand the Black Lives Matter movement. Consumers also argued that the company exploited BLM in an inappropriate attempt to sell more products. Although Pepsi quickly responded, withdrew the ad and apologized, the ad had a significantly negative impact on its reputation.
This year is not quite over yet, so even if your brand hasn’t yet made any mistakes, it’s too early to consider yourself in the clear. You can help to ensure your social media marketing strategies go off without a hitch as long as you double-check everything, remember that politics can be dangerous, and admit to a mistake if you make one.
