Brands and celebrities alike often retweet and share the positive comments from its customers to really show off how much people like them. Social media allows the public to connect with others in a way which has never been done before. But it’s not always positive. Almost 70% of people aged between 18 and 29 have experienced some form of online abuse.
Though fans will often shower their favourite actors, singers and stars with compliments and well wishes, there are those keyboard warriors who use it to hurl savage, cruel (and occasionally witty) insults towards those who they think less of.
Since the first episode in 2012, Jimmy Kimmel’s videos of Celebrities Reading Mean Tweets has taken the internet by storm with many A-listers keen to read out mean tweets directed at them. The hilarious segment pokes fun at the rude comments and makes light of what could be quite hurtful.
In a tongue-in-cheek spoof of the original segment, Carlsberg UK trawled Twitter to find the best of the worst tweets about its well-known lager.
Once marketed as the best in the world, Carlsberg admits that its original lager probably wasn’t. In light of this, it asked employees to read out some of the worst things which have been said about the drink.
From likening the taste to “the rancid piss of Satan,” and “stale breadsticks” to even a “dead grandmother’s bathwater” – consumers have not held back the punches when it comes to the beer.
The intriguing campaign video sees its employees reluctant to read out some of the tweets due to their vulgar nature. Many winced and laughed nervously as they repeated the words back, seemingly in disbelief at the level of animosity directed towards the beverage.
Why would a brand ridicule itself and broadcast some of the worst things that have been said about its products? It was surely a mistake and a pretty damaging one at that, right?
Wrong. In fact this was an honest, ambitious and clever experiential marketing campaign to launch Carlsberg’s new Pilsner, which it claims to be much better than the original lager. The company has invited those who tweeted the meanest things to try the new drink, in the hope that they find it of a better quality.
Humour is a sure-fire way to draw people towards a brand. We have seen Carlsberg build brand love in the past with tongue-in-cheek marketing, designed to make people laugh. The Ultimate Taxi Experience caught people off guard and friendships were tested to the extreme in a poker game prank.