BIGGEST Social Media Fails By Companies

 

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 article 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 article 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