Top 6 Social Media Fails of 2013

Social media platforms are a crazy place for businesses. In their enthusiasm to remain the center of attention with witty campaigns, some companies make blunders too big to be ignored. Here are the biggest social media fails of 2013 that made a lot of brands reconsider what should and shouldn’t be said to their audiences.

#1) The Home Office Feed Fail

A stream of Tweets by the Home Office with consecutively changing facts got it in a lot of trouble with the audiences.

 

 

 

People responded angrily to these, claiming that Home Office’s feed required a punch in the face.

#2) The HMV Lay-Off Trouble

HMV decided to lay off a lot of employees at once, driving the latter to take matters to social media and post tweets from the company’s official account.

HMV Firing

The last message from these disgruntled employees stated “Just overheard our Marketing Director (he’s staying, folks!) ask ‘How do I shut down Twitter?’”.

#3) The Benadryl Mapping Campaign

Benadryl tried to make something creative during the hay fever season but the result soon turned into a big joke. The company asked people to pin up places where they sneezed on a map. Here is what some people came up with.

 

Not a good idea. Enough said!

#4) Luton Airport’s Image Disaster

Luton Airport went a bit overboard with their attempt at creating a competitive edge. Here is what they posted on Facebook:

Luton Plane Crash

Sadly, the image included was of a real-life plane crash that resulted in the death of a six-year-old passenger. Offended replies followed this and the picture was removed shortly afterwards.

#5) Burger King’s Hacked Account

The official Twitter account of Burger King was taken over by hackers early in the year. They changed the account image to a McDonalds logo and posted some bizarre tweets about the company’s food and employees. Needless to say, they weren’t very flattering.

Cover-Image

#6) Epicurious Trying to Profit via Boston Bombings

Epicurious’ attempts to imply that their cereal can help people deal with the shock of Boston Bombing tragedy resulted in a huge angry outcry from the audience.

Boston-Bombing

It’s still not clear what the company was thinking exactly by trying to capitalize such a tragedy. Definitely not a good idea!

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Matthew Goulart


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Matthew Goulart is the founder of Ignite Digital, a Canadian digital marketing agency. Through Ignite Digital, Goulart works with Fortune 500 companies and advertising agencies from around the world and has helped launch profitable and highly successful digital marketing initiatives for his clients.