5 Major Social Media PR Disasters

Social media can be a great PR tool for businesses, but all too often things can go very, very, wrong. From utterly clueless businesses experimenting with the internet to in-touch online businesses simply making amateur mistakes, the world of social media certainly isn’t one that you want to be caught in when you’ve screwed up.

These five social media mistakes must have hurt. From businesses to bands, CEOs to employees, social media PR disasters happen surprisingly frequently. These five caught our eye for sheer style, stupidity, and humor value.

1.  Whole Foods’ Political Debacle

Whole Foods, a brand that’s particularly popular amongst social media users, caused a stir in the blogging world in mid-2008 when CEO John Mackey made some negative comments about President Obama’s healthcare plan. While the comments were made in the Wall Street Journal and weren’t related to Whole Foods as a company, left-leaning social media users were outraged at Mackey’s conservative remarks, and created a 22,000-strong Facebook group calling for a company boycott.

2.  Attack Attack’s Horrible Music Video, and the Rise of Crabcore

It’s one thing to be made fun of anonymously on the internet, and it’s another altogether to have your official Youtube channel invaded because of a music video. Attack Attack’s latest music video drew jokes and criticism from just about every metal fan, who rushed to their Youtube channel to poke fun at their patently ridiculous dance moves.

How did Attack Attack respond? By pretending the old video didn’t exist, and filming a new one to replace it. Despite their best efforts, the older, significantly more hilarious video still draws thousands of views per day.

3.  Microsoft’s Horrible Windows 7 Ads

When it comes to advertising, competitor Apple Inc. have a clear advantage on their Redmond competition. Microsoft’s recent advertising campaigns have drawn a lot of criticism, mocking, and even entertaining parody in the blogosphere. Thousands of bloggers have challenged Microsoft to make a good commercial, and with their recent string of TV-bombs, it seems unlikely they’ll accept.

4.  Horizon Realty’s Ridiculous Twitter Lawsuit

Fancy being sued for the content of your tweets? Chicago-based property firm Horizon Realty decided that one user’s tweet was too much when they filed a libel lawsuit for $50,000. Her only offense? Calling a Horizon Realty apartment “moldy”.

Naturally, Horizon’s move drew a lot of negative feedback in the blogosphere and social media world. Who knew frivolous lawsuits could draw so much attention? Let’s hope Horizon Realty gets their settlement – they’ll need it after this wave of bad publicity.

5.  Dominos’ Youtube PR Disaster

This one isn’t a case of marketing incompetence as much as it is employee stupidity. In 2009, two Dominos employees uploaded a video to Youtube of them doing some pretty nasty stuff to customers’ pizzas. Dominos managed to get the video yanked off Youtube two days later, but the damage was done: some 1 million viewers saw the video, and news travelled quickly. Dominos later responded to the controversy, minimizing damage slightly, although the effects are still quite clear – search “Dominos PR”and you’ll still be inundated with coverage of the PR meltdown.

Tags: social media, YouTube