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Social Media Howlers

Social media is a key part of many Sales and Marketing strategies, from awareness to lead generation, brand recognition or direct sales there’s very little that Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Pinterest don’t see these days. Occasionally, there will be some social media screamers that have us dying with laughter (excuse the pun). You know the ones; they normally end up going viral for being so hilarious, ridiculous or just really, really cringe.

Amongst some of the many horrors we see are some of the big brands who know exactly how to use social media and this was very apparent during the whole #FreeCuthbert scandal.

#FreeCuthbert

Let us take you back to where it all started. Cast your minds back to the year 1990 (I know it’s a long way back!), Madonna was at the height of her career, we were swooning over Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in Ghost and the first Home Alone movie was released, catapulting Macaulay Culkin and his mischievous ways to international fame. But most importantly 1990 was the year Colin the Caterpillar was first launched by M&S, and he quickly became the country’s most beloved birthday cake. Not a party would take place where Colin wouldn’t make an appearance.

Fast forward 29 years to 2019, a new caterpillar was in town, Cuthbert was born. Unlike Sainsbury’s ‘Wiggles the Caterpillar’ or Tesco’s ‘Curly’, Cuthbert was almost a direct copy of Colin… except for the price. 40% cheaper, Cuthbert’s popularity understandably took off.

Unfortunately, M&S wasn’t a fan and ended up taking Aldi to court for infringement. This should have been a serious case but the cheeky social media team at Aldi had other ideas and so began the #FreeCuthbert movement.

What’s great about this is that even in the midst of a court case, Aldi were still able to have fun, creating some fairly iconic social posts, many of which had us howling with laughter. Here are some of our favourites:

 

KFCs Secret Recipe Revealed (kinda)

We all know that KFC know what they’re doing when it comes to marketing. Remember during the Great Chicken Shortage of 2018 when this print ad appeared?

Well, have you ever noticed who they’re following on twitter? For all their 1.5m followers, KFC only follow 11 people. All 5 of the spice girls, and 6 people named ‘Herb’, an ode to their infamous secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices. This tiny detail was spotted by twitter user @Edgette22 in a now viral tweet.


KFC’s marketing team had no doubt been sat on this for a while and so when it was finally discovered they decided to reward Edgette for his detective skills in the most bizarre way possible. The chicken giant commissioned a painting of Colonel Sanders giving Edgette a piggyback across a wonderful landscape. Check it out for yourself here…


Should’ve Gone to Specsavers

Specsavers have got to be one of the greatest accounts on Twitter, they’re witty, they’re cheeky and they’re quick. There’s no specific campaign from them that has killed us, it’s more just their fast responses that play on their famous “Should have gone to Specsavers” tag line.

Just a few months ago, the Optician was caught trolling Tottenham Hotspur after they released a first look at their new away kit. In all fairness, it was a poor kit. It looked like a rainbow had thrown up over the jersey, so it was no surprise that it didn’t go down well with fans, many of which took to Twitter.

To be fair, none of us knows what was going on in Tottenham’s social media team when they put out a tweet asking fans to describe the kit in one word, they were asking for it. There were many responses, some not suitable for the eyes of our readers, but Specsavers simply responded with “Should’ve”.


It was genius, nothing else was needed. We all knew what they meant, and it was brilliant.

And again, during the Euro’s they were on fire. Remember when England played Scotland in the group stages? No, nor do we, it was a boring game, to say the least. But not according to Gary Lineker, who we’re convinced was watching an entirely different match to the rest of us. As always, Specsavers had a great response to his bizarre analysis of the game:


They didn’t even need the tag line, but we all knew what they meant and that’s what makes their social media so great.

Beans on Weetabix?

We couldn’t have a social media screamer blog without mentioning the absolute horror that was the Weetabix and Beans saga. The image still gives us nightmares, however… what a time for social media.

It was a cold dark winter’s day; we were all going about our lives. But it was that day in early February when Weetabix decided they were going to commit a crime. Exhibit A:


Understandably as a nation, we were shocked. Beans on Weetabix?! Criminal! And many seemed to agree:


A classic nod to Jackie Weaver:


Gravy filled Donuts, anyone?


And finally, Sky was here to save the day. Though, it’s debatable whether Sky broadband was ever working to begin with…


Most of all, Weetabix gave us a good laugh. Something that was very much needed at the end of a long winter, in the height of a pandemic. And whilst a crime was most definitely committed, I think we could all forgive them, this time…

Tik Tok Creator Improves Logos?

If like us you spend hours of your evening aimlessly scrolling Tik Tok (it’s addictive, don’t judge), then you most likely would have come across user Emily Zugay. If you haven’t, I recommend you go check her out. Emily first went viral at the beginning of September with her satirical video about brand logos. In the video which currently has 14.6m views and over 2.3m likes, Emily explains that she is putting her “degree in design” to good use and redesigns (or improves) company logos that she thinks are “ugly”. Her first victims were Starbucks and Apple – the video is below if you want to check it out.

@emilyzugayPutting my degree to use♬ original sound – Emily’sTikTok.edu

As the video took off, Emily starting asking what logos she should redo next, and this is where it got interesting. With NASA, Target, Tik Tok and Kmart on her hit list this time, the comments section started to flood with brands requesting they do them next. Adobe, McDonald’s, NFL teams, Tampax, Tinder, Washington Post, NASCAR, Disney, Champion, Doritos, Dove… you name it, they all wanted the rebranding. Many claimed they were going to sack their design teams, they all wanted Emily and her talents.
But for us, it peaked with Amazon. Emily redid their logo ‘Amason’ with a little box, as they do deliveries – obviously. The shopping giant ran wild with it, they created this advert with their new branding and Emily even got a special package…

@amazonThanks @emilyzugay for helping us think outside the box.♬ original sound – Amazon

This is a great example of how brands have hopped on a viral video created by a regular person and really made the most out of it. Many thought that unlike the other brands, Amazon were above changing the Tik Tok avatar to the new logo, but secretly they were working behind the scenes to create something even more amazing. Which was both clever and highly entertaining, and it most certainly got our attention!

Emily has been keeping us entertained and we can’t wait to see how she uses her “degree in design” next.

Take a bite

How do you eat your KitKat? Well, if you’re a sane person then most likely break the finger off and eat them one by one. However, there are some monsters out there who just bite in to the four-finger delight without a care in the world.

Recently KitKat teamed up with Wunderman Thompson to launch their Have a Bite campaign, to find out how people are enjoying their break-time snack. With TikTok creators waging in with their opinions to some fairly outraged twitter users, it seems that whatever way you’re enjoying your KitKit, whether that be nibbling at the chocolate or going straight in with a cross-finger bite, KitKat don’t mind. All that matters to them is that you’re enjoying it.

 


And here were some of our favourite responses that had us howling!

Social Media Is a Powerful Tool

Social media can be an excellent tool for your business. You don’t need to be a huge brand but by producing high quality and perhaps even some slightly controversial content, you can really engage your audience and get people talking. Remember, you don’t have to always be serious on social media, you can have a little fun with it too.

Let’s Create Something Amazing Together

If you want to elevate your social media and create some screamers, get in touch with the team, we don’t bite! Our team at DGT have many years of experience on social media and can help you and your business grow your platforms to help your business get the most out of social media.

Posted by Xena Graham on Friday 8th October 2021