Businesses can cash in on the talk of the online town by incorporating it into their online promotion in order to grab people's attention amid a barrage of items that flood Facebook newsfeed. A few of them, however, made people stop and stare for the wrong reasons. I noticed two recent incidents where brands cashed in on the political climate in order to promote themselves. And received a tonne of online backlash for it.
A meat and ready-to-eat-food chain retailer incorporated two very controversial numbers as part of their promotion around St Valentine's Day. Customers who purchased 666 baht worth of their products would be entitled to a discount of 112 baht when they use the LOVE112 promo code. The former is the number of the beast in Christianity. The latter undeniably refers to the lèse-majesté code. When you put them together... I don't know what this campaign was trying to say or who approved it. The artwork was adorned with big pink hearts but they couldn't soften the gross misjudgement. Following the backlash, an English-language news outlet reported on the incident and was asked to take it down but the chain didn't provide any explanation. The funny thing is that you can still easily find it online. I hope I won't be asked to take this down, too.
Earlier this week, a French fries chain made a big blunder when they posted that their cute mascot, whose name happened to be the same as a pro-democracy activist who was arrested on Saturday, was arrested for making fries that are too delicious. First of all, why play with the "being-arrested" angle when there have been many arrests of protesters lately. Second, this post is viewed by many as blatant mockery of the arrested, kicking him while he was down. The chain issued a long apology while trying to explain that the post was simply an unfortunate coincidence and that it supports human rights and democracy. Many find their explanation hard to swallow (food pun intended). I guess saying something is still better than saying nothing, in this kind of situation.
These two incidents are worrying for several reasons and I'm talking in general here. First and perhaps the most obvious, I don't think it's wise for any businesses to play with political ideology as it's obvious that they risk alienating customers who disagree with the political stance that they're perceived to align themselves with, whether they do it in a tongue-in-cheek manner or not. It only makes economical sense to welcome all types of customers to enjoy your products and make them feel welcome. But if they think negative press is still press, then be my guest.
Second, by using a real-life situation where there are real people who are suffering right now -- whether you agree with them politically or not -- as some kind of marketing gimmick is, at very least, insensitive or, at most, inhumane. I don't think you need to be an empath to understand this point. Why would anyone want their misery to be made a mockery of for the potential economic gain of a big corporate?
I do understand that all businesses would want the public to respond enthusiastically to their online campaigns. And while I do like creative and gimmicky marketing as much as the next guy (and I do write in non-PC language sometimes), some lines shouldn't be so flippantly crossed. And the blame can't be placed on the agency, who is hired to come up with the promotion alone either, since it must be passed through many eyes before it gets approved.
I don't think it's too much for the public to ask respectable brands to act more responsibly. Their campaigns may go viral with thousands of reactions and shares, but they inadvertently exacerbate a malady of divisiveness in society.
All for the sake of a promotion.
Is it really worth it? Really?