Digiday Publishing Summit

Connect with execs from Axios, The New York Times, Paramount and more.

VIEW PASSES

Golf Channel’s “Dream” A Social Media Nightmare

It was just a matter of time before some tone-deaf brand used today, the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, as a social media marketing ploy. Amazingly, the guilty party was the Golf Channel.

This morning, as @jyarow pointed out, the Golf Channel tweeted:
Screen Shot 2013-08-28 at 1.54.19 PM

MLK was most likely not talking about hitting the links when he said he had a dream. The Golf Channel has since deleted the tweet.

The Golf Channel is a property of NBC, which is running the broader “DreamDay” hashtag. But something about mixing golf programming and historic civil rights events struck many online as a catastrophic duff.

This isn’t the first time a brand has attempted to glom onto the historical and social importance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s groundbreaking speech. Last year Taco Bell shamelessly plugged itself in this dream-themed tweet.
Screen Shot 2013-08-28 at 1.52.31 PM

Not to be outdone, Staples similarly used MLK Day as an excuse for this silly tweet earlier this year.
Screen Shot 2013-08-28 at 1.52.51 PM

 

Image via Flickr

More in Marketing

To manage 300,000 creators, Unilever automates everything but the relationship

Unilever is using AI to vet creators and automate workflows as it scales a 300,000-creator network without handing over creative decisions.

Nike versus Adidas: Who’s spending more in race to claim the World Cup crown?

With the World Cup at the midway point, ad spend estimates show the apparel rivals taking opposite tacks in their media approaches.

Platforms’ AI dilemma: scale without sameness

Using AI to create content risks a lot of it looking the same. But the platforms agree creativity will always come from humans.