How to blow up your brand in five minutes

Hoping to make a few people laugh, it is Friday after all, I retweeted out a link to a mommy blogger's post about the teeny rubber toys called Stikeez that Pick n Pay are giving away with every R150 spent. It's become a total craze among kids and mom and blogger Celeste Barlow wrote about the craziness that these toys have generated among kids.

And what did Pick n Pay do? Ignore it? Tweet that they're glad we're talking about their products? Reply with a funny, faintly ironic tweet? No, they told me to delete my tweet because of the "highly inappropriate" content. *Face palm*.

@Louise_Marsland Hi There. Kindly remove your tweet as the content is highly inappropriate.

- Pick n Pay (@PicknPay) August 14, 2015

Barlow is a very funny writer, a winner of blogging awards, she pulls no punches about how tough it can be to be a mom and she swears a lot. Like many of us. I love her writing and her honesty. She also wished a venereal disease on the Pick n Pay marketer that came up with the idea for this promotion which is driving parents nuts, but it is a satirical column!

I'm a mom as well as a journalist - I read parent blogs, I belong to moms groups on Facebook with thousands of members. Yes thousands. They are very influential and while we do share pix of odd rashes that our kids have somehow developed, we also share support, sell and swap things, and make each other laugh. (There are dads groups too, I'm not trying to be sexist here, let's be clear on that!).

After Pick n Pay's tweet, it only took five minutes for the internet to make @PicknPay the next #bashtag, indulging in 'social shaming' with tweets about Pick n Pay's censorship, lack of humour, lack of understanding about how social media works, etc etc. All very entertaining and all very sad, because it seems as if the learnings from other brand fails on social media are not taken on board. That consumers aren't heard. That brands don't listen to their agencies or employ marketers that actually understand consumers.

@PicknPay @Louise_Marsland Come on, PnP. This is not how things work on social media. You are only drawing more attention to the post.

- Gus Silber (@gussilber) August 14, 2015

.@Louise_Marsland tweets funny PnP column. @PicknPay wants her to remove tweet! Hilarious: https://t.co/nAq5QknMki https://t.co/uu9Xi0Msc3

- Alastair Otter (@alastairotter) August 14, 2015

@PicknPay @Louise_Marsland You seriously just tweeted to a journalist telling them to remove a comment? You are for a fun weekend.

- MarkLives.com (@marklives) August 14, 2015

@PicknPay Hey, I recognise you! You headed the Censorship Board pre 1990! Asshole. @Louise_Marsland

- Andrew Perkin (@Perks_ZA) August 14, 2015

@andreajsmit @PicknPay @Louise_Marsland thanks, I was getting jittery without my daily dose of outrage #brandfail

- Garg Unzola (@gargunzola) August 14, 2015

@cathjenkin @gussilber @PicknPay @Louise_Marsland oh dear Pick 'n Pay, go chat to Bic about the intricacies of social media...

- Cath Fern (@bassetzoo) August 14, 2015

@PicknPay @Louise_Marsland

Dear Pick n Pay social team,

You are the best!

Lots of love.
Virgin Active and Bic SA

- Carl Angus (@Sageville) August 14, 2015

As I tweeted after, I didn't mean to start another social media sh*tstorm, I wanted to share a Friday funny. But brands really do have to look hard at what they are saying to their consumers - and the media in this case, by-the-by.

Apart from the obvious attempt at censorship and freedom of expression issues yadda yadda, what image is the brand trying to project? That they have no sense of humour? That they don't understand satire? That they don't read parenting blogs to understand how parents really think?

It is unprofessional and rude and sucky. It makes me want to avoid your brand for being out of touch. But hey, thanks for the laughs Pick n Pay!

*UPDATE: Pick n Pay did eventually say sorry, a few hours later.

@Louise_Marsland Sorry, we shouldn't have asked you to remove your tweet.

- Pick n Pay (@PicknPay) August 14, 2015

*UPDATE 2: David North, Group Executive - Strategy and Corporate Affairs, Pick n Pay, called to apologise later in the afternoon. Now that's how you do it.