Dive summary:
- Brands like AT&T learned the hard way yesterday that jumping in on a national tragedy like the 9/11 attacks isn't the safest social media move; reactions to their post and posts from other brands were quite heated.
- AT&T tweeted a photo of a phone poised to take a picture of the beams of light shooting up from Ground Zero, paired "Never Forget;" but took the tweet down and issued a formal apology following backlash (much of which was hashtagged #ATTtragedies) over its use of the tragedy for marketing.
- On Instagram, the Los Angeles Lakers posted a photo of Kobe Bryant with the words #NeverForget superimposed on the image, but quickly realized their mistake and deleted the photo.
We apologize to anyone who felt our post was in poor taste. The image was solely meant to pay respect to those affected by the 9/11 tragedy.
— AT&T (@ATT) September 11, 2013
From the article:
"While the other 9/11-related tweets from brands didn't provoke the same negative reaction as AT&T's, they still walk a fine line in terms of relevance, according to David Berkowitz, CMO of MRY. While it would be fitting for a health care company that treats 9/11 first responders or a brand that actively runs scholarships for the children of the deceased to weigh in, trivialities like #NeverForget seem tone-deaf, he said."
