Issa Asad Tells 4 Catastrophic Social Media Fails of the First Half of 2017

Issa Asad Florida

Mistakes are bound to happen on social media, ranging from uploading an inappropriate picture to posting an offending post. Depending on the scale and the number of people it reaches, accidents have the potential of hurting the reputation of a product.

“The year 2017 has already received its fair share of social media fails perpetuated by prominent brands,” said Issa Asad Florida businessman and social media expert. Mr. Asad is the CEO of Q Link Wireless and Quadrant Holdings, located in South Florida. He is also the author of 4 e-commerce and marketing e-books that can be purchased on Amazon.

Here, Issa Asad Tells 4 Catastrophic Social Media Fails of the First Half of 2017:

1. United Airlines’ Unfortunate Incident

United Airlines has not been having a good year thanks to the decision of their passengers to take and share video in which airline workers manhandled a man. Apparently, the workers randomly chose him to forfeit his seat for one of them, but the man declined. They then dragged him off the plane as the passengers watch. The incident alone trended for the wrong reasons on social media, tarnishing the image of the brand a great deal. However, things got even worse when the CEO somehow shifted blame to the victim by praising his workers for following the right procedure. Despite everything, such sensitive situations need a more rational approach; United Airlines didn’t handle the situation properly.

2. Dove Adds to the Ladies Body Issues

Dove was all over the social media at the beginning of May for all the wrong reasons. In its ongoing attempt to redefine beauty standards, the company made an unpopular move by reshaping its shampoo bottles to mimic various body types. One can easily understand why designers could make such an error since on paper the idea may have appeared exemplary. However, to many ladies, their gesture alluded to the presence of a Right/Best body type, something they found incorrect. The question that lingered was; should a woman select the bottle that matches her body type?

3. Uber Supports the Wrong Side

In January this year, taxi drivers across New York went on a strike to protest Trump’s immigration ban. The drivers requested all members to participate in the protest, those of Lyft and Uber included. Uber in an attempt to exploit the situation suspended Surge Pricing and tweeted to promote its service. Social media users perceived the action as an effort to dent the strike. Lyft, its rival, capitalized on the mistake by issuing a message of solidarity and even donating 1 million dollars to the ACLU. Taxi users in their thousands turned to social media to vent out their anger, and Lyft received a huge boost in users. Moreover, Lyft’s mobile app downloads for the first time exceeded those of Uber on Sunday, January 29.

4. Adidas Poor Choice of Words Backfires

The failure emanated from a simple, and possibly unintended yet very wanting selection of words. On completion Boston Marathon this year, Adidas tweeted out to congratulate participants for surviving the Boston Marathon, specifically using the word: Congrats, you survived… In so doing, the company unintentionally recalled imagery of the Boston Marathon bombing in the year 2013. Luckily, it managed to recover quickly, by pulling the tweet down immediately and apologizing genuinely to all and sundry.