Yesterday the New York Police Department invited citizens to post photographs of themselves with police officers using the hashtag #myNYPD. Perhaps inevitably they were not inundated with photos of grinning kids slurping sodas on brownstone steps posing with their friendly neighbourhood cops but a whole torrent of images of police brutality. In answer to the NYPD’s initial tweet “Do you have a photo w/a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it”, the Occupy Wall Street account tweeted a photo of protesters and cops fighting, with the caption “changing hearts and minds one baton at a time”. Many more similar uncosy images followed.
Do you have a photo w/ a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD. It may be featured on our Facebook. pic.twitter.com/mE2c3oSmm6
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 22, 2014
Do you have a photo w/ a member of the #NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD. It may be featured on their Facebook! pic.twitter.com/Ps7rThxgNw
— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) April 22, 2014
MT @NYPDnews: Do you have a photo w/ a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD pic.twitter.com/epG5E9cUBF
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— DefendedInTheStreets (@KimaniFilm) April 22, 2014
@nypdnews Is that the one your public relations people requested? #mynypd pic.twitter.com/ZXrXS9k9LO
— al gag (@amusem) April 22, 2014
Within a few hours, over on the West Coast, the copycat #myLAPD had also started up, full of similarly non-heartwarming images of Los Angeles officers not posing with sun-visor-toting snowbird grandmas…
#myLAPD hard at work protecting the 1% from the voices of the 99%. pic.twitter.com/eRjyrVaQQG
— LA CAN (@LACANetwork) April 23, 2014
The misguided callout is just the latest in a long line of Twitter awkwardness that could come direct from the minds of Armando Iannuci or John Morton. Here a few other famous fails:
1) Waitrose
In September 2012 the super(up)market Waitrose exhorted shoppers to “Finish the sentence: “I shop at Waitrose because _________ #WaitroseReasons.” In reference to its reputation as the grocer of choice of the Ottelenghi classes, many of the spoof tweets it got back were perhaps not what it had in mind. Though it’s possible they were in on the joke all along, later writing: “Thanks again for all the #waitrosereasons tweets. We really did enjoy the genuine and funny replies. Thanks for making us smile.”
“I shop at Waitrose because I was in the Holloway Road branch and heard a dad say ‘Put the papaya down, Orlando!'” GENIUS.
— Salman Anjum (@Salmanorguk) September 20, 2012
I shop at Waitrose because… don’t be silly, I have servants to do that for me #WaitroseReasons
— Skengman Legdrop (@xzure) September 20, 2012
@waitrose “I shop at Waitrose because…” you say “Ten items or fewer” not “Ten items or less”, which is important #WaitroseReasons
— Alistair Coleman (@scaryduck) September 17, 2012
I shop at Waitrose because Clarrisa’s pony just WILL NOT eat ASDA Value straw #waitrosereasons
— James Kite (@jamesdkite) September 23, 2012
And so on…
2) McDonald’s
Earlier the same year, hamburger behemoth McDonald’s had cheerily encouraged diners to tweet their #McDstories. On January 18, the chain sent out two tweets with the hashtag, in an attempt to highlight the “hard-working people” who provide McDonald’s with their food. Sadly the McFlurry of anecdotes sent their way were not exactly along the line of “That time I had my party in Mickey D’s and Ronald McDonald came by – awesome!!” or “I *heart* Filet-O-Fish”. They soon pulled the campaign.
One time I walked into McDonalds and I could smell Type 2 diabetes floating in the air and I threw up. #McDStories
— Skip Sullivan (@SkipSullivan) January 18, 2012
“More than half a year since last McTerrible McFattening McMeal. I don’t McMiss the McFood McOne McBit.” #McDStories pic.twitter.com/hqFOdciV
— Toyin Adesanya (@toyinadesanya) January 24, 2012
I used to like McDonalds. I stopped eating McDonalds years ago because every time I ate it I felt like I was dying inside. #McDStories
— Jeff Stokes (@DigitalStokes) January 23, 2012
My memories of walking into a McDonald’s: the sensory experience of inhaling deeply from a freshly-opened can of dog food. #McDStories
— Vegan (@vegan) January 20, 2012
3) Home Office
More sinisterly, last August following its cockle-warming “Go home or face arrest” vans aimed at illegal immigrants, the Home Office had the brainwave to take its campaign cross-platform and, in a horrifically Orwellian update on Police Camera Action, begin live-tweeting co-ordinated raids across the country using the tag #immigrationoffenders. Open and honest, perhaps, but it was the apparent pride in the arrests that offended many:
62 suspected #immigrationoffenders have been arrested in raids across the UK today follow us for updates https://t.co/bRWNrGYMXd
— The Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) August 1, 2013
62 suspected #immigrationoffenders arrested across UK – 2 arrested in Brentwood following Home Office operations pic.twitter.com/Fl2dJaCjAz
— The Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) August 1, 2013
I would just like to say that as a British person, the nasty tactics from the @ukhomeoffice are not in my name. #immigrationoffenders
— Amy. (@thisisamy_) August 2, 2013
4) J P Morgan
Over in the world of finance, in November last year the banking giant J P Morgan was mocked by Twitter users after it called for questions to one of its senior executives using the hashtag #AskJPM. More than 6,000 negative responses later, the bank was questioning the wisdom of soliciting comments on social media in the all too recently post-crash era.
Did you always want to be part of a vast, corrupt criminal enterprise or did you “break bad”? #AskJPM
— Kevin Murphy (@kcm74) November 13, 2013
What section of the poor & disenfranchised have you yet to exploit for profit, & how are you working to address that? #AskJPM
— alexis goldstein (@alexisgoldstein) November 13, 2013
When Jamie Dimon eats babies are they served rare? I understand anything above medium-rare is considered gauche. #AskJPM
— Eric (@Talking_Monkeys) November 13, 2013
Yet for corporate brand managers, perhaps all publicity remains good publicity.
5) Starbucks
Again in 2012, fast looking like the ground zero year for public/corporate Twitter interface, the coffee chain Starbucks campaign to “spread the cheer” at Christmas was spectacularly mistimed, given it had recently been in the news for paying only £8.5m in tax in the UK since it had launched in 1998. Inevitably its spiced-pumpkin-latte, Deck-the-Halls joviality was hijacked by a slew of somewhat less tinselly bon mots. The company displayed its campaign on an electronic billboard in the National History Museum in London, but failed to check the messages before they went public...
I like buying coffee that tastes nice from a shop that pays tax. So I avoid @starbucks #spreadthecheer
— Richard Leeming (@dickdotcom) December 17, 2012
And finally…
Who could forget the glittering invitation to the launch of the Scottish songstress Susan Boyle’s new album that was unfortunately tagged #susanalbumparty? We, for one, can’t – and very much doubt Susan can either.
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