They say any publicity is good publicity, so it makes sense that some businesses' advertisements would be designed with the express purpose of ruffling some feathers.
KFC's latest promotional tweet is enough to make the Colonel himself cringe. The fast food giant cooked up a storm with a questionable tweet (below) in the promotion of their new 'Hot & Spicy' chicken products.
Proving to be more spicy than hot, the tweet left a poor taste in the twitterspheres' mouth with the post being retweeted more that 1300 times within the first hour.
It is difficult to imagine that possible ramifications weren't considered prior to the post going live. There is no doubt that the post attracted flocks of criticism but have KFC successfully lured online users to 'watch their space' for future advertisements? How many businesses deliberately leverage off #socialmediafails in an attempt to attract attention?
Food for thought
Before firing a post that you know has the potential to be controversial, consider the potential backlash. Controversial tweets are extremely risky and like most things on the internet, can spiral out of control. We suggest you consider the potential rewards against the probable consequences and devise marketing material accordingly.
It's clear to say that KFC's attempt to engage with their online following wasn't as finger lickin' good as it could have been.
Note: The offending tweet was pulled quickly by KFC and an apology issued in its place.
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