The country is still in shock and mourning over last week’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Some companies and brands opted to send their condolences; others chose the sensible route of just staying quiet.
You would think by now that brands would understand how social media works and that brand would understand a certain necessary level of human decency and respect in the wake of disasters and tragedies. But no. Apparently these are things that some brands still need to work on.
Here are some examples embarrassing, distasteful and completely inappropriate brand responses to the Sandy Hook massacre.
Mutual of Omaha: Probably not the best time to be reminding people about purchasing life insurance for their families. 
(Image via @ianfitzpatrick)
Kmart: Hopefully this was a dumb copy and paste error and a lack of proof reading. Either way it’s bad and another reason why brands should just keep quiet and let people mourn in peace. 
(Image via @blagica)
NRA: It’s one thing to be respectfully quiet and it’s another to shut down your social media presence in order to hide. The usually vocal NRA has gone cowardly silent on social media in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting. It has taken down its Facebook page and the last tweet on it’s Twitter account on Dec. 14 was about its holiday giveaway. 
(Image via @nra)
More in Marketing
Why angel investor Matthew Ball still believes in the metaverse
Matthew Ball’s 2022 book “The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything” was a national bestseller in the U.S. and U.K. On July 23, he plans to publish the second edition of the book.
Marketing Briefing: Why sustainability is ‘not a priority’ for marketers right now
Anecdotally, there have been noticeably fewer requests from marketers on ways to market sustainability efforts in recent months, according to agency execs, who say that requests had been commonplace in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
‘We’re watching the war’: Tubi hits growth spurt, but isn’t part of the streaming wars, CMO Nicole Parlapiano says
On the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast, Tubi CMO Nicole Parlapiano shares her perspective on the so-called streaming wars, pitching Tubi’s multicultural viewers and the streaming platform’s growth track.