Death By Twitter: Taco Edition

Our Death By Twitter sagas have been at a standstill lately. But now we are back with a really unappetizing one.

Earlier this week, an unwise series of events led to this picture being posted on Taco Bell's official Facebook page. Wow. Talk about bad decisions! Let's review the elements of this bad decision:

- Licking tall stack of taco shells

- While wearing uniform

- With visible face

- Posting to Internet

- More specifically, on the official page of your employer

 This Death by Twitter is one that has a very obvious outcome. At least on initial review. The employee pictured -- and the employee who posted the picture -- were fired this week after the nasty pic and story went viral. Less obvious, though, are the strange twists to this tale that have been uncovered since then.

Turns out, the picture was in response to an internal competition from Taco Bell for employees to "submit photos of themselves enjoying their first bite of a new product". The taco shells were being thrown out and the employee was apparently attempting to show his love for the taste of Taco Bell.

Okay, the photo is still pretty gross... but at least these facts put it in context. Right?? The lesson for everyone here is that while the corporate reaction was quick to fire the offending employees, they were slow to reveal the somewhat redeeming circumstances of the photo as a response to an internal contest. These factors were revealed days after the picture went viral, so most people who saw the offending picture don't even know. They just walked away thinking about Taco Bell with a bad taste in their mouth. No pun intended

Are you as grossed out as I am? Do you think the employees should have been fired?

Rule #1: Don't use Tragedy as a Marketing Ploy

Thoughts and prayers going out this week to all those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Tragedies such as this leave many social media users in a sticky situation.  This week, a few companies have been ridiculed for not being sensitive enough to those affected by Sandy.

Possibly the worst offender was American Apparel, who sent an email blast for a "Hurricane Sandy Sale'' - targeting its price cuts to just those on the east coast. Even with the promise of "20% off", Twittersphere did not approve.

Gap followed suit with a slightly less aggressive move, attaching well wishes in the same tweet as a call to action for online shopping. Similar backlash ensued.

Call me naive, but I don't believe that either of these companies had entirely bad intentions when making these moves.  Their vision, however, was short sighted. Tying the company's profit to their sentiment of compassion made them seem inauthentic.  And that doesn't sit well in social media.

A better idea would have been to send the same sentiment but with a promotion donating portions of any online sales that day directly to those affected.  See what that does?  By changing the benefactor of the promotion from the company to those who are in need, you can align the organization with the concern.

 

The line between relevance and self-promotion can be thin.  Do you think these companies went too far?