Social media is awesome and you have a lot of power, especially if you manage big brands. But with great power comes great responsibility. And some people can’t handle that. Let’s take a look at the twittersphere last week as we thank the SABC and H&M for showing us what NOT to do.
1. SABC ONLINE NEWS
Someone at the SABC sent out a little tweet. And South Africans, being as awesome as we are, weren’t even offended by the profanity. Instead we thanked that person for saying what we are all thinking.
A very honest SABC employee is about to be fired. That’s good for their CV though! ? pic.twitter.com/pTMRBuISqx
— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) November 8, 2015
Took the words right out of my mouth @SABCNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/TVRpU6AELR — Colin Moss (@ColinMossSA) November 8, 2015
Please don’t apologise for so eloquently expressing the viewpoint of an entire nation. https://t.co/YDnXdeuoAM — Gus Silber (@gussilber) November 8, 2015
@NattyGov as for the grammar fails in the apology. ?? pic.twitter.com/cNnzxIE47a
— Bhavna Singh (@bhavsingh) November 8, 2015
A yellow shirt with Zuma’s face on it is the new crocs. — Bevan Cullinan (@BevanCullinan) November 8, 2015
The lifecycle goes something like this:
1. SABC tweet about Zuma’s new jet upgrade and add their thoughts.
2. Twitter high fives that employee.
3. SABC tweet an apology. Apology has a typo and they only apologise for the profanity. They don’t apologise for the opinion.
Lessons: if you stick it to the man, then you will be a hero. Typos are never cool. Also keep an eye on who has access to your Twitter profile and change the password whenever someone leaves.
2.H&M
The fashion brand had their launch party in Cape Town and Joburg and someone pointed out that their models were mainly white. Instead of making changes, they tweeted this.
@Tlaly_Branch H&M’s marketing has a major impact and it is essential for us to convey a positive image. 1/4
— hmsouthafrica (@hmsouthafrica) November 2, 2015
H&M regrets the response to a social media message that was recently aired and wishes to clarify the intention. pic.twitter.com/IybEBotudU — hmsouthafrica (@hmsouthafrica) November 5, 2015
The lifecycle of the H&M twitter scandal goes like this:
1. SA fashion blogger points out that H&M only have white models.
2. H&M opt to reply with a number of tweets and in tweet 1 of 4 express their desire to convey a “positive image”.
3. H&M said what? Twitter reacts.
4. H&M issue an apology. Not 1 of 4 tweets this time.
Lessons: always address issues head on and don’t make excuses. Never send a tweets out in parts. Twitter has a 140 character limit for a reason.
Fail Whale: don’t ever list how many black models you have worked with after only using white models for a campaign in South Africa. This is the equavalent of a white person saying that they are not racist because they have that one black friend.
Examples of models include: Naomi Campbell, Alek Wek, Kendall Jenner,Vladimir McCrary, Imaan Hammam,Liu Wen,Salma Hayek, to list a few. 4/6
— hmsouthafrica (@hmsouthafrica) November 5, 2015
And to top it off, my favourite trolling account tweeted this:
We’ve been using only white models for years. H&M does it once and they get nailed. Amateurs.
— Woolworst SA (@WOOLWORST_SA) November 6, 2015
