An unawareness of a social disconnect is often referred to as being socially tone-deaf. At best, when it comes to companies, 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 the 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. For instance, Spirit Airline sent an email to customers during the COVID pandemc with the subject line “Never a better time to fly”.
How could a company do something so obviously bone-headed? Well, Spirit Airlines is not alone.
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 in a garage by carbon monoxide emitted from a tail pipe. The Hyundai ix35’s tail pipe exhaust consists only of water vapor. Hence, man’s suicide was thwarted, and he defeatedly walks back to his house.
The backlash was deafening.
But what came next downshifted that backlash 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 to this day, the ad can still be found online and continues to rack up clicks.
Name That Tune
DiGiornos created a loyalty campaign that included the hashtag #WhyIStayed. 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. When DiGiornos began using the same hashtag it unknowingly stepped on a landmine. #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 a 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 by trying to make money off mental illness. The fact that Burger King can hardly be associated with mental illnesss only served to support that perception. Unsurprisingly, their effort to be in sync with the growing public attention to mental health resulted in an uproar and slew of angry tweets.
It is possible to recover from misteps by publicly acknowledging, quickly reacting, and offering a sincere mea culpa. Blunders can be avoided by not rushing to leap on a bandwagon. Be knowledgeable. Be sensitive. Do some concept testing. Combine awareness with a little investigation. Stay socially in tune with the world that surrounds us and you’ll avoid embarrassing mishaps and public relation disasters!
