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SeaWorld and Others Discover That a Hashtag Can Become a Bashtag

Posted by samzenpus on from the getting-hit-with-your-own-stick dept.

HughPickens.com writes Alison Griswold writes that in an effort to improve its tanking image, SeaWorld launched a new advertising campaign this week to educate the public about its "leadership in the care of killer whales" and other work to protect whales in captivity and in the wild. As part of that head-on initiative, someone at SeaWorld decided to invite Twitter users to pose their questions to the company directly using the hashtag #AskSeaWorld. That was not a good idea as twitter users bashed Sea World relentlessly.. "As easy as it is to make fun of SeaWorld here, the real question is why any company still thinks hosting an open Twitter forum could be good for public relations," writes Griswold. "So maybe SeaWorld's social and PR folks just really have no idea what they're doing. Even so, you'd think they'd have learned from the corporate failures before them."

Let's review some of the times this has backfired, starting with the infamous McDonald's #McDStories Twitter campaign of January 2012. Rather than prompting customers to share their heart-warming McDonald's anecdotes, the hashtag gave critics a highly visible forum to share their top McDonald's horror stories. MacDonalds pulled the campaign within two hours but they discovered that crowd-sourced campaigns are hard to control. Three years later the #McDStories hashtag is still gathering comments. "Twitter Q&As are a terrible idea.," concludes Griswold. "A well-meaning hashtag gives critics an easy way to assemble and voice their complaints in a public forum. Why companies still try them is a great mystery. Maybe they'll all finally learn from SeaWorld and give this one horrible PR trick up for good."

9 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. #McDStories by Greyfox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ad campaigns are easily subverted. Case in point. If you're going to do something like that, you'd best be sure you're squeaky clean and that the public loves you. And if you're a souless corporation, the answer to both those questions is inevitably "no."

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    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  2. Re: Maybe it's time these companies learn... by mattwarden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Patrons are happy at Walmart and McDonalds, or they wouldn't patronize the establishments religiously. Yet these are two of the most "hated" brands for reasons that have nothing to do with the services they provide patrons.

  3. Maybe this is just my perspective as an outsider.. by DRMShill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    but why the hell would anyone use Twitter? What's your reasonable best case scenario? You could get a book deal maybe. On the other hand, you're playing Russian Roulette with everything you post. Say something the internet finds offensive at that time and they'll burn you to the ground.

  4. Re:Maybe this is just my perspective as an outside by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Publicity.

    Try posting something on your web site, if you're not one of the biggest or most-watched companies in your industry, and see what reaction you'll get.

  5. Love AND hate by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yet these are two of the most "hated" brands for reasons that have nothing to do with the services they provide patrons.

    Disagree. They are loved AND hated for exactly the same reasons and often by the same people. People love low prices but hate the side effects of relentless focus on low prices like low wages. People love consistency and knowing what to expect but hate the monotony of those very same things. People love good service but hate paying for it. People love having jobs but hate working.

    In short, people are bi-polar in their attitudes towards big corporations. It's not as simple as saying people love big corporations or hate them. It's both at the same time.

    1. Re:Love AND hate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Uh, yes?

      You see this most prominently in video game forums. The fans that shell out money to buy the game are the loudest trolls on the forums. And they keep playing the games even as they post about how terrible they are. And they buy the sequels, and complain about those too.

      This is a common human phenomenon. There are *also* groups of people who are happy and post enthusiastic comments without trolling. And there are *also* haters that just troll and never buy. But it is simply ignorant to believe that there isn't a large group of people that do both at once.

  6. Re:Bad Idea When by Crashmarik · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It is only a bad idea when the vast majority of people hate your business practices.

    The vast majority doesn't care. It's a problem when you have an angry minority that has too much time on its hands.

  7. Re: Maybe it's time these companies learn... by LihTox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And if Walmart has the lowest prices in town (or maybe the ONLY prices in a small town), and if you're on a tight budget, you might not have a choice in where you shop, love it or hate it. It's like saying, "Wow, everyone must love the DMV, there's always a long line whenever I go!" :) Or as another example, I lived in Chicago for 5 years and I took public transportation everywhere, and I HATED it, but I hated the thought of driving in Chicago even more.

  8. Re:Maybe this is just my perspective as an outside by Mashiki · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well gamergate uses it as one of the main pushbacks against moral authoritarians and prudes. The "social justice" crowd loves social media, so there needs to be some people who are willing to push back against those who are out to try and cause actual harm.

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    Om, nomnomnom...