from skintone swapping so pads to women's tortilla chips today we look at
eight of the biggest social media fails by companies number eight
adidas Boston survive time heals all witness but in the case of the 2017
Boston Marathon and hadn't been nearly long enough for the phrasing adidas used
in a post race evening send from adidas to participants after the hundred and
twenty first annual race the email read congrats you survived the Boston
Marathon those seemingly innocuous out of context this message came only four
years after the tragic events that left more than 260 people in jury this use of
the word survived would immediately spark an online uproar as recipients
began posting screenshots of the emailed title across Twitter a spokesman for
adidas would go on to tell Time magazine we are incredibly sorry clearly there
was no thought given to the insensitive email subject line edita is apologized
for the mistake recognizing the Boston Marathon as one of the most
inspirational events across the globe and a beacon of hope and resiliency in
the long run this Gavilan harm adidas relationship with the event as they
continue to be one of the top four sponsors of the Boston Marathon
number seven united airlines of 2017 when it comes to corporate advertising
on social media there's a chance that one poor choice will have repercussions
as limited as an hour of public backlash or can go the exact opposite direction
as a did for united airlines in 2017 the flight was overbooked and no volunteers
presented themselves so the crew decided to attempt selecting which customers
would need to find a later flight on their own upon learning of this decision
69 year old Elizabeth town resident dr. David Dow refused to give up his seat in
response the flight crew called law enforcement to forcibly remove the
passenger and occurrence the since gone viral via Facebook and other platform
the video itself features a graphic struggle is two to three security
officers and blue jeans yank and drag the elderly doctor out of the seat and
along the aisle of the plane an open view of the rest of the cabin while it
is important to note that the security officers here worked for the Chicago
Department of Aviation the scene of helplessness and apparent victimization
would begin a year of issues for United Airlines from then on what may
normally have been a slight shower of customer complaints turned into a
torrential downpour as new tales of terrible service became more
ostentatious and article worthy everything from being stung by a
scorpion to the tragic loss of pets from destroying wheel chairs to stealing
thousand-dollar seats from toddlers the story is revolving around flying with
United had become less like a yelp review more fitting to tell around the
campfire despite these issues though United Airlines continues to survive
with a relatively quiet year in 2018 number six
dove and social issues last year dove had a confounding turn in logic when
they decided to publish an advertisement with a racially insensitive depiction in
the ad a black woman has shown us transforming into white woman after
bathing with dove Facebook users immediately caught on to the apparent
subtext of the advertisement and began voicing their discontent it didn't take
long for dove to remove the ad but this one be the person pressure some users
were going to point out an advertisement from 2011 that portrayed three models
with skin tones transitioning from dark to light as they stood before-and-after
w's comparison chart the public continues to hold up responsible however
racial issues aren't the soap companies only works in addition to an off-base
skin tone themed advertising campaign dove also attempted to take its rather
successful real beauty campaign in a new direction and I suppose the ode to the
varying shapes of the human specifically female body dove decided to craft a
series of bottles ranging and curvature in height unfortunately for the soap
company this would end up blowing up in their face as potential customers found
the prospect of purchasing soap in the shape of their own body to be highly
unnecessary so unnecessary in fact that the campaign became something of a joke
on social media seemingly more like a comedy sketch than an earnest
advertisement is now 2018 and dove seems to have gotten the train back on the
tracks with a self-esteem project an effort by the brand to deliver body
confidence and self-esteem education to 40 million use around the world by 2020
one of the latest additions to this campaign is the use of a new label
indicating that no digital manipulation was used to fix photos in their ads they
plan to extend the label to all static imagery by January 2019 number 5
Pepsi and BLM in the midst of the black lives matter movement
Pepsi had the bright idea to use current events as an inspiration for an ad
campaign featuring Kendall Jenner against the backdrop of what appeared
more like a multicultural parade than a protest against abuses of power the
advertisement attempted to highlight the struggle of artists and stains secluded
from world events kendall Jenner in the middle of a
modeling gig drops everything to join in the festivities as other protesters
laugh and sing and play songs about the day as she makes her way through the
crowd gazing around and wonder Jenner casually delivers a can of Pepsi to a
police officer blocking the protest once the officer takes a drink the crowd
erupts and cheers hugs and overall elation as a soda pop powerhouse appears
to have finally solved social injustice the response to this advertisement was
Swift and aggressive as the public quickly criticized Pepsi for their
apparent obliviousness - just how tone-deaf the video appeared the black
lives matter movement began after repeated incidents of social injustice
many of which ended in the tragic loss of black Americans some of which were
minors the sentiments motivations and overall subject matter of the black
lives matter movement is very serious for Pepsi to present their protest as
being more akin to a hipster festival in Brooklyn than the marches for social
justice they aim to be it's no wonder there was backlash but if that wasn't
enough Pepsi took it a step further when framing their product is a secret to
world peace completely diminished in any real efforts work and suffering that is
done in the name of bettering laws for all people in the aftermath of the ad
Jenner's take the brunt of the criticism along with Pepsi and both continue to
try to move past it today number four lady Doritos earlier this year
PepsiCo CEO Andrew Nooyi made a guest appearance on the Freakonomics podcast
as the company behind Doritos as well knew you was asked a question regarding
the difference between genders when it comes to eating chips she responded a
lot of the young guys eat the chips they love their Doritos and they lick their
fingers with great Glee and when they reach the bottom of the bag they pour
the little broken pieces into their mouths this was not something women do
even though they would like to she contended and to confront these
difference new you went on to state new types of snacks packaged and designed
for women were ready to launch suit this response would send the internet or
tabloids began latching onto the from the interview and before Doritos or
PepsiCo knew it the world was anticipating the release of Lady Doritos
the average response from social media regarding the news was that knew you was
wrong her assertions regarding female behavior
were not representative of the population the public argued after the
apparent mass disapproval of the idea Doritos released a statement to People
magazine saying we already have to reduce for women they're called Doritos
and they're enjoyed by millions of people every day the statement would go
on to say they are always working to match that constantly changing wants and
needs of their customer base but reports regarding this product were inaccurate
and so lady Doritos were quashed before they even hit the Shelf number three
Dodge Ram and Martin Luther King jr. earlier this year dodge ran a Super Bowl
ad that concurrently ran on their Twitter featuring a solemn message of
service it was a typical truck commercial advertisement highlighting
hardworking Americans from across all walks of life against a backdrop of
giant size flatbeds there was just one difference this commercial was set to
Martin Luther King Jr's drum major instinct sir
a historical leader in he rode many kings vocal appearance in the commercial
didn't go unnoticed the public reaction was mixed however many found offense and
the use of the late Reverend sermon to sell a product to make matters worse
this particular sermon featured his segments speaking on the evils of
advertising brands and greed it would go on to directly point out on how
advertisements can make you spend your money on vehicles you don't need a focal
point many would latch on to via social media to condemn the ad Dodge never
issued an apology The Kinks Center a nonprofit
organization established in his name by wife Coretta Scott King publicly
separated themselves from the commercial Dodge apparently worked hand in hand
with the Martin Luther King jr. State who oversee his intellectual property
the advertisement was also apparently meant to plug grassroots organization
dedicated to community service called Ram Nation and then of course the
advertisement played in the midst of the Super Bowl and online giving the sermon
massive outlet to the public because of this public opinions regarding the
incident remain mixed with pros and cons of the advertised
nearly balancing out in the big picture number two t-mobile Austria while
transparency between companies and their customers is always appreciated
sometimes it may be better to check with a supervisor first earlier this year a
twitter user as t-mobile austria they in fact store customer's passwords in
clear-text only to have their suspicions confirmed in reply we secure all data
very carefully so there is not a thing to fear the company account would say
the issue at hand is the manner in which customer data is stored and the way in
which t-mobile Austria works makes it possible for customer passwords leaking
into the public sphere when pressed further as to how their
security is structured team of Austria even went on to state I really do not
get why this is a problem on their Twitter customer service agents would go
on to push the idea that their security would never be breached in the first
place making the supposed extra steps unnecessary within three days of
increasingly agitated debate between t-mobile Austria's customer service
Asians and the public across Twitter the company decided in their approach to
password story customer service agents would no longer be able to see customer
passwords and the data would undergo a process of being salted and hashed a
special means of encryption luckily for the mobile carrier this wasn't an issue
for t-mobile in the United States and other countries where passwords and data
were always that heavily good number one uber and the JFK Airport protests in
early 2017 shortly following president donald trump's hotly debated immigration
policy the New York taxi workers Alliance protested the controversial
stance that effectively ban Muslims from entering the United States they decide
to do so by refusing to grant rides to customers arriving the John F Kennedy
Airport on one night in an act of solidarity for an hour
conversely uber decided to room surge pricing and advertise that their drivers
would be available at JFK Airport that night but they did so after the plan
process was to have ended unfortunately and what may be the only case of such on
this list the corporate social media fail is on the public uber almost
immediately came under fire for supposedly breaking the protests and
using the opportunity to attract new customers via lowered prices but uber
didn't break the protest hours and their lower rates were actually used
by foot bound protesters needing a ride to the airport before and after the
protest these details never seem to gain much traction though among the flurry of
negativity that plagued the company immediately after a collection of other
public problems including issues with wages employees city governments and
taxi unions had already painted over in a relatively negative light with many
making their accused act of opportunity all the more easy to believe what's the
most ridiculous thing you've seen company posts on their social media page
let us know in the comments section below