If you haven’t heard already, Burger King’s Twitter account was hacked about an hour ago, and there is some pretty off-brand-message tweeting happening.
The hacker behind it hasn’t been identified yet. According to Gizmodo, it’s not Anonymous or UGNazi. The first hacked tweet says that Burger King was sold to McDonalds. The hacker(s) changed the Burger King Twitter icon to the McDonalds icon and changed the background to McD’s “Fish McBites.” They also changed the Twitter handle name to McDonalds.
We just got sold to McDonalds! Look for McDonalds in a hood near you @dfnctsc
— McDonalds (@BurgerKing) February 18, 2013
(First hacked tweet)Since the first hacked tweet at around 12 PM EST, Burger King’s Twitter feed has been full of all kinds of off-brand comments and some pretty inappropriate tweets–things like talking about “IThugs,” promoting rappers and posting rap music videos, and talking about employees taking drugs. There is even an image of someone shooting up heroin.
Basically this is a brand’s worst nightmare — and yet more evidence that marketing is a 24/7 job, even on Presidents Day. You’d think that someone at Burger King would have contacted Twitter already to suspend the account and then immediately start damage control. Or that Twitter would think enough to suspend what’s clearly a hack.
But somehow the hijacked account is still up and running and putting out nonsensical, profanity-sprinkled tweets. Hopefully Burger King acts faster than Fox News did in Feb. 2011 when it waited 10 hours to do damage control after someone hacked its Twitter account and posted tweets about Obama being shot.
But there is some silver lining here. Since the hacking, Burger King has gained over 15,000 followers and counting.
UPDATE: The Burger King Account has been suspended as of 1:18 PM EST.
-
Member Exclusive‘Can’t really be ignored’: Marketers and media buyers are finally taking the on-going TikTok saga seriously
Marketers and media buyers have said that as long as people are still on TikTok they’ll want to be there, especially as they try to diversify from Facebook and Google.
-
‘Clever about how we rest’: As uncertainties drag into fall, agencies are facing a burnt out and fearful workforce
Agency employees and executives say that a feeling of fatigue due to the on-going uncertainty and the need to be always on has set in.
-
‘A credible voice’: Why Honda is doubling down on esports
Honda has struck deals with Riot Games, pro esports team Team Liquid and Twitch as it looks to maintain its appeal among first-time car buyers.
-
SponsoredB2B events were broken before the pandemic, their online reinvention is creating positive change
Kim Darling, executive producer, Inbound Farewell lanyards, business cards and branded pens — it’ll be some time before people get their hands on these souvenirs of in-person events again. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to transform the way people work, buy, sell, socialize and entertain themselves, the global events industry is facing its biggest-ever challenge. […]
-
Member Exclusive‘2020 has been the year of contingency plans’: The new norms of marketing
Six months into a paradigm shift in marketing due to on-going crises, marketing leaders say that many of the coping changes put in place are here to stay.
-
Snap is exploring bringing ads to Minis
Snap launched Minis, lightweight third-party applications that sit within the Snapchat app, in July. Now it's looking to monetize them.
