DiGiorno Shows Why You Should Read Twitter Hashtags Before Using Them

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We’ve believed for a while now that brands should reconsider the use of Twitter for self-promotion, since the combination of instantaneous communication, employees signed into the wrong accounts, thoughtless jumping on the bandwagon, and followers who know how to take screen shots has damaged a lot of brands. Today’s devastating example of why you should look before employing a hashtag comes from frozen pizza brand DiGiorno, which wandered into a serious Twitter conversation about domestic violence.

This conversation grew out of current events, namely the suspension of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice after security camera footage surfaced of him punching his then-fiancée until she lost consciousness. The couple are now married, and people who aren’t familiar with the patterns of romantic partner violence may have wondered why she stayed with him, let alone going through with the planned marriage.

While people who were once in such relationships don’t presume to speak for Mrs. Rice, thousands of people told their own stories on Twitter using the hashtag #WhyIStayed. When the tag began trending, Unfortunately, someone who represents DiGiorno on Twitter thought this would be a fun trend to join before they took thirty seconds to skim the tweets.

This screengrab taken by ad executive Scott Lee shows the DiGiorno tweet alongside some non-opportunistic #WhyIStayed tweets.

The brand has since apologized, and says that the tweet was immediately taken down.

A million apologies. Did not read what the hashtag was about before posting.—

DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) September 09, 2014

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist