Alchemy and Social Tone-Deafness Don’t Mix

 An unawareness of a social disconnect is often referred to as being socially tone-deaf.  At best, social tone-deafness results in a harmless social slip-up.  At worst it can end up as a public relations nightmare.  In an effort to stay culturally relevent, some companies jumped on a social movement bandwagon.  Thing is, some of those companies created campaigns around sensitive topics that they didn’t really understand.  Unfortunately, these attempts at combining creativity with social issues led to blunders that ranged from embarrassing to downright horrifying.

More Than a Little Off Key

In 2005, Hyundai wanted to be associated environmental consciousness.  They created a commercial for Hyundai’s ix35 fuel cell car.  “Pipe Job” was about a man’s failed suicide attempt using carbon monoxide emitted from a tail pipe.  However, their new fuel cell car’s tail pipe exhaust consisted only of water vapor.  The man’s suicide is thwarted, and he defeatedly walks back to his house. The backlash was deafening.

But what came next downshifted into overdrive. It was a blogpost written by a woman whose father committed suicide in the same way with a Hyundai car.  The blogpost also included her father’s suicide note. After that, Hundai pulled the ad, but it was too late.  The blogpost had gone viral.  Hyundai scoured the internet to remove “Pipe Job”, but 25 years later the ad can still be found online and continues to rack up clicks.

Name That Tune

DiGiornos was trying to align itself with social issues of the time with the  hashtag #WhyIStayed.  It garnered a high volumeclicks.  Problem was, the hashtag had to do with the suspension of NFL player Ray Rice for beating his wife.  #WhyIStayed was a collection of domestic violence survivor stories.  Unfortunately, DiGiornos began using the same hashtag to sell its frozen pizzas. #Oops.  As one can imagine, there was an avalanche of blowback.  How long did DiGiornos apologize for its social amusia?  A very, very long time.

Striking the Wrong Chord

#FeelYourWay was campaign by Burger King to mark Mental Awareness month.  They sold products such as a “Blue Meal” and the “Pissed Meal”.   However, Burger King came off as  insensitive and trying to make money off mental illness. Unsurprisingly, their effort to be in sync with mental health ended up fueling a public uproar and slew of angry tweets.

It is possible to recover from misteps by publicly acknowledging, queckly reacting, and offering a sincere mea culpa.  Spirit Airline for the email it sent to customers during the COVID pandemic. The subject line read, “Never a better time to fly”.

Blunders can be avoided by not rushing to jump on a bandwagon. Be knowledgeable. Be sensitive. Do some concept testing. Combine awareness with a little investigation.   Stay socially in tune with and you’ll avoid embarrassing mishaps and public relation disasters!