Why Obama stole from Robert Downey Jr.

It's not often that you would see Barack Obama and Robert Downey Jr. competing for the same award.  

But this week, President Obama ousted Downey Jr. for a world record!

According to Guinness World Records, Obama - who signed up for his own Twitter handle (@POTUS) on Monday - is officially the fastest account to reach 1 million followers.  The presidential account managed to rack up these numbers in under 5 hours, blowing away Robert Downey Jr.'s time of 24 hours set in April 2014.  

If you are anything like me, you might be thinking, "Wait a minute, I thought Obama was already ON Twitter!?"  Well, according to the White House, all other Twitter handles that he has used in the past (@WhiteHouse and @BarackObama) are managed by staffers.  This new account will have tweets exclusively from Mr. President himself.  

From a branding perspective, it seems to make more sense for his PERSONAL account (@BarackObama) to make the exclusively authentic tweets.  But, who am I to argue with the Leader of the Free World!?  That is, of course, unless he is in the market for a new Social Media Adviser! (Call me, Barack!)

Since @POTUS has joined Twitter, he's posted almost every day.  My favorite entry is below, with reply to a tongue-in-cheek question from Bill Clinton.  I personally find the exchange hilarious and hope for more of these conversations!

Are you following any of these presidential handles?  Do you think the new account is necessary or just more government redundancy!?

Death By Twitter: Under Armour Edition

What's said ONLINE determines whats sold ON SHELVES.

There is no getting around this.  Earlier this month, I shared about the Budweiser fiasco when a social media storm forced the company to remove some of its offensive bottles from shelves everywhere.  This weekend, a new story with a similar framework broke; shelves are once again being rearranged due to a social media uprising.

Under Armour released this "Band of Ballers" t-shirt, depicting a silhouetted scene strikingly similar to iconic image of servicemen raising the US flag on Iwo Jima during WWII.  You might also recognize that scene as the basis for the US Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.  

Once word got out about this, Under Armour's Facebook and Twitter pages received an onslaught of negative reactions, shaming the company for comparing a true heroic moment such as Iwo Jima to a basketball moment.  

Pretty much immediately, Under Armour went into defense mode, pulling the t-shirt from shelves and marking it as "sold out" online.  Additionally, it posted this very well-worded apology on all social media accounts. 

When companies have such well-constructed responses to mini-crisis, you have to wonder why they didn't also have the foresight to see the crisis coming.

What do you think of the "Band of Ballers" shirt?  Do you find it offensive or are we simply in another PC-police situation?

A Womanly Response to the #DadBod Craze!

I've seen a lot of editorial media lately about the "Dad Bod".  This concept has gained national media attention this week, and struck a nerve on social media.  According to pretty irrelevant sources, (come on, guys, it's Cosmo and Glamour that are really focused on this!) the "Dad Bod" is a "mix between maintaining a beer gut and working out".  It has basically been touted as the "real man" and saying women prefer that over a GQ model-type figure.

Okay, let's get this pretty clear that no one is likely bashing some studs in the GQ magazine.  But the #DadBod craze, which trended on social media earlier this week, has quickly been replaced by its female counterpart.  Yeah, you guessed it, the "Mom Bod".  Not to be left out from the "real-self" empowerment, Moms all over have been responding with pictures of their imperfect-but-beautiful selves.  Complete with stretch marks, extra skin, and other small imperfections, the craze has encouraged women to ignore their minor flaws and love their bodies as they are.  Heck, if a man's beer belly can make national news as the new sexiest man characteristic, we can overlook a small imperfection in ourselves!

What do you think of the #DadBod and #MomBod movement?  Is this a fleeting craze or a meaningful movement?

DEATH BY TWITTER: Budweiser Edition

In the ever-more connected online and offline worlds, Death By Twitter doesn't always have to be caused by actions ON Twitter.  Even marketing choices that play out in the offline world can lead to social media uproar and.... well.... Death by Twitter!

That is exactly what happened this week as Budweiser came under hellfire for its new advertising slogan.  We've all seen the commercials for Bud Light, claiming it is "the perfect beer for whatever happens." Often, this is accompanied by the hashtag #UpForWhatever and commercials of silly instances like life-size Pacman games.

But this week, Bud Light took this a bit too far, adding a new slogan on some of their bottles: "The perfect beer for removing 'no' from your vocabulary for the night."  Well, within 24 hours of the release, Twittersphere was full of nay-sayers claiming the new slogan promotes a rape culture.

Budweiser has since, of course, apologized on Twitter, tweeting "We missed the mark on a new Bud Light label, and we regret it."

This one seems pretty obvious to me, as alcohol - or alcohol abuse - has very strongly been linked to sexual misconduct, date rape and other instances of violence. Digging a little deeper into the executive boards of Budweiser shines a light on why the company MIGHT have been blind to this. 

The team within Budweiser responsible for Bud Light is the North American branch of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the company that owns Budweiser.  Well, out of 14 executive seats leading this team, there is only one woman. By the same token, within Anheuser-Busch InBev itself, there is only one female executive on a team of 16.

Don't get me wrong.  I believe all people, not just women, should have a general awareness and sensitivity to not promoting the rape culture.  However, I can't help but think that the gender makeup of this executive team could tell us something about how such a marketing fail occurred for the brand.

Weigh in here, guys.  Do you think a more balanced exec board could lead to less marketing mistakes?

Why Lindsay Shouldn't Post In Arabic!

Oh, L.Lo.  What are we going to do with you!

I just see the name Lindsay Lohan in a headline now, and I assume it is going to be about something ridiculous.

Well, this week is no different.

Monday, Lindsay posted an inspirational quote to her Instagram followers (she has over 3 million followers!).  The picture, in English, said "You're beautiful" and then had an Arabic translation beneath.  Very nice.  Except, the translation was wrong.  Oops.  The Arabic portion actually translates into "You are a donkey" or "You are an ass".  

How does this even happen? Where did she get the pic!? Does she know Arabic?  This should be a general rule for posting languages: If you can't translate it yourself, don't post it!

Of course, Lindsay has taken down the blooper of a post, but not before setting off the social media world. If you notice #YouAreADonkey trending, now you know why!

Britt McHenry Needs To Take Her Own Social Media Advice!

Just because your Twitter feed is nice and sweet, doesn't always mean you are.

That is my biggest take-away from this week's Britt McHenry scandal.  If you haven't heard, yesterday, a video went viral of ESPN's reporter Britt McHenry berating a parking lot attendee.  Britt, who happens to be an beautiful blonde bombshell, goes off on this woman, insulting the woman's appearance (her teeth and her weight), her education and her lifestyle.  Britt's language makes her look anything but beautiful.  The video was leaked by the attendant, who was working at the tow lot where Britt's car had been towed, and has been watched hundreds of thousands of times.  Britt has since been given a week suspension but the Twitter-sphere does not think that's enough.  Hashtags including #FireBritt have been trending since the video went viral. 

There's irony in this, as Britt has been known to tweet about kindness and post Instagram pictures with quotes like "If you can be anything, be kind."  (Update: Britt just made her Instagram private!)  Well, Miss McHenry.  You need to take your own advice!

You know what is even more strange to me?  Had Britt made these comments as posts on Twitter or Facebook, she would probably be fired.  As we have seen so many times (and I write about constantly in our #DeathByTwitter series), when people make a Twitter-error, they get fired!!  Isn't it more offensive if you are rude directly to someone's face?

Look, I get that people lose their tempers.  We all say things we don't mean.  But you don't need to insult someone at that kind of personal level.  And using your news-status as a way to act better than other people is just gross.

Have you guys watched the Britt McHenry video?  What do you think of it?  Should she be fired or is a week suspension enough?

Best April Fools' Day Jokes of 2015

Don’t trust anything you see in your Twitter Feed or Facebook News Feed today.  At least not without verifying it.  That’s right, it’s April Fools' Day.

Of course, friends will be playing pranks on each other at work and posting fake Facebook announcements.  I think, though, that the real fun of April Fools' Day is to see how big brands respond.   And this year, we’ve got some doozies.

A drumroll, please for my top 5 Social Media April Fools' Day Jokes!

HINGE’S PLAYDATEDating app Hinge released its “newest” feature, PlayDating!  A dating app for 2-5 year olds looking for playdates.  The company flirts the line of a spoof product well in its pretend advertisement, and the little kids are just adorable!!

GOOGLE’S INBOX SMARTBOXGoogle had several jokes going on this year.  My personal fave is the fake ad the google gang made for a “revolutionary new mailbox”.  The Smartbox holds your snail mail, is activated by a wave of the hand, sparks those trying to put junk mail into your mailbox and has temperature controls AND video messaging! (WEIRD!!)
Check out the video, you might just find yourself wanting a SmartBox!

AMAZON 1999In a April Fools' Day throwback, Amazon.com has redone its entire site to look like it is 1999!  Check it out!  It is fascinating, actually to see how far we’ve come. There used to be SO much text and no pictures!! Goes to show that the internet quickly learned the power of visual imagery!

SELFIE SHOEA shoe company, Miz Mooz jumped in on the April Fools' Day action with a brilliant but fake new product, the selfie shoe.  Is it bad that I kind of want a pair?!  The selfie shoe has a slot for your phone and an internal button to take a selfie with a tap of your toe!  The video is hilarious and I now want to cut slits in my shoes to try this!

HONDA’S HR-V SELFIE EDITIONAlso in on the selfie spoof is Honda!  Honda’s “new” car has built-in selfie-ready features.  As its spoof ad puts it, “Every Honda comes with a rear view camera.  But the Honda HR-V Selfie Edition comes with the kind of camera I look for in a car.  It has TEN different selfie cameras!”  This would solve some problems for all those in-car selfies we see every day!