12 seats left:

Join us Dec. 1-3 in New Orleans for the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit

SECURE YOUR SEAT

5 Bad Brand VMA Tweets

Whether it’s a cultural or sporting event, like the Super Bowl, or a natural disaster, like Hurricane Sandy, brands seem to be forever angling for ways to insert themselves into trending online conversations – for better or worse.

This time it might not be for better. MTV’s Video Music Awards were held last night and, predictably, brands just couldn’t resist chiming in. Here are five of the more-awkward social attempts. Are there any others we missed?:

Taco Bell


Yes. For Subway.

Red Bull

This is a surprisingly forced tweet from a brand that constantly receives deserved praise for being so innovative.

Red Cross Oklahoma

This is a fairly clumsy attempt at glomming on to the N’SYNC chatter. But at least it’s for a good cause.

Coca-Cola

Just, don’t.

Domino’s

This joke was old 10 years ago. Hopefully your pizzas arrive more quickly than your zingers.

Image via Shutterstock

More in Marketing

In Graphic Detail: How AI search is changing brand visibility

We explore recent data illustrating the search dilemmas facing marketers — and the potential solutions.

The ad industry’s plan to define what counts as AI

As AI content continues to rise, the industry is trying to define the best strategies to manage risk around it.

Confessions of a crypto strategy exec who wants to spend ad money on X, but can’t

When not even the bigger spenders on X can give their ad dollars to the platform, that’s a concern.