Campbells marketing campaign attracts unwarranted social media support…
Campbell’s Soup is the latest brand to have been hacked by fake ‘Customer Service’ representatives online through Social Media Feeds.
Their latest advert, which has been featured in the USA for the past several weeks, features a gay couple feeding their child – while most of us would see this as a inoffensive marketing campaign showing the versatility of family groups, some people didn’t see it the same way…
Campbell’s Facebook and Twitter profiles we’re suddenly bombarded with ‘feedback’ from its customers and non-customers, who had an opinion on the latest campaign.
As we all know, the internet has a way of counteracting such opinion based feedback, this time in the form of a prankster, who took it upon himself/ herself to to pose as the brand’s customer service representative – purely to troll the homophobic comments across social media channels.
While the individual has nothing actually to do with Campbell’s, their responses were pure gold and totally confused the haters, who assumed they were an actual customer service rep;
Campbell’s social hackers come to the rescue
This isn’t the first time a corporate brand encounters hackers posing as ‘customer service representatives’ through social media. Other companies who have been affected include Quaker Oaks, United Flights, Burger King, Starbucks and of course, Hertz.
See some of the most popular previous hacking stories here.
While many would consider this quite funny, fake customer support poses a real risk for the organizations that the trolls impersonate. The customers are trying to solve a problem, and it’s an opportunity for the organization to repair a tarnished interaction. Fake customer support most likely alienates that potential buyer. It saps credibility and sheds a harmful light on the business. The consumer often believes they’re dealing with an actual employee of the establishment.
So, the lesson here is – don’t believe everything you read online…
And – if your company finds yourself in a similar position, the recommendation isn’t just to ‘laugh it off’ but find an expert who can provide a clear and professional social media reputation package, to ensure your brand stays positive.
