Social media has completely changed the way we communicate and the way we spend our time. It's easy to log into Facebook to quickly check your messages and then look up hours later to find you've spent your entire day on there. Of course companies soon began to realize this and knew that they needed an online presence in order to reach this new demographic. These companies now use social media to advertise deals, promote new products, and communicate with customers.
That's where the fun begins.
Some of the most hilarious pranks have come from guys contacting corporations with outrageous inquiries or complaints and, in turn, getting a sincere response from them. Others have simply taken advantage of a company's weak social media efforts. Here are some of the funniest social media pranks on corporations you'll ever read.
The National Republican Congressional Committee
In June 2012 the NRCC thought it would be a good idea to set up an online petition where you could sign it and then see your signed petition print out on a live Ustream completely unfiltered. You can imagine what happened next:
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Names like "Weedlord Bonerhitler" and "Boner Junkmonkey" became much more common than actual signatures and they were being displayed on the NRCC's Tumblr page. According to The Verge,the NRCC's Digital Director said they expected this to happen and their goal was for it to go viral in order to collect emails for their campaign. No matter what was intended, watching a printer being trolled for hours is incredibly hilarious. Here's a sample of the footage that ends with the printer breaking down, ending on the name Bruce Dackler. It's not known whether or not Bruce Dackler is a real name or another prank, but his infamy will live on forever.
Exile Pitbull
In July 2012 Pitbull teamed with Wal-Mart for a promotion that would send "Mr. Worldwide" to perform a concert at whatever local Wal-Mart got the most Facebook fans. David Thorpe, a writer at The Boston Phoenix, came up with the idea to send him to the most remote Wal-Mart in the country -- in Kodiak, Alaska.
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The concept quickly caught on and the Kodiak Wal-Mart, in a city with 6,100 people, ended up with over 75,000 fans. Pitbull was a great sport about it and not only did the show but invited Thorpe to join him on the trip. You have to hand it to Pitbull's PR team, they found a way to turn him getting sent as far away as possible into a good thing.
Applebee's Patriotism
One of the most asinine things that large companies will do is use social media to post generic, broad statements in order to gain exposure. Obviously you don't want to lose any potential business and you can't take a chance on offending anyone, so instead they keep it to subjects that no one could possibly disagree with. The most bizarre was on September 11th last year when companies like Dunkin' Donuts, Ace Hardware, and Applebee's began tweeting about how we will never forget September 11th. It may not seem that weird but, as Slacktory points out, when a tweet like this:
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Ends up plastered between two tweets like this:
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It doesn't exactly seem sincere. Also, did anyone question Applebee's' or Ace Hardware's feelings on terrorism? That's where a few Twitter users jumped in and began creating havoc for the Applebee's social media marketing team with tweets like this:
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Now clearly these guys aren't mocking a tragedy, but rather a company's attempt to gain a few followers by sticking a sincere tweet in between appetizer coupons. For more, you can check out Twitchy, who unintentionally created a hilarious play-by-play of all the tweets.
Corporate Twits
Most of the time the pranks on social media platforms aren't as big as sending Pitbull to Alaska, they're quick one-liners that would go unnoticed unless you knew exactly where to look. Lucky for us there's Corporate Twits. Although it is no longer updated, here you will find pages of hilarious messages to companies that actually responded. Here are just a few examples of the absurd questions that have gotten responses:
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For more fun you can check out how the creator of Corporate Twits started a worldwide rumor that Scott Baio had died of diaper rash.
That's where the fun begins.
Some of the most hilarious pranks have come from guys contacting corporations with outrageous inquiries or complaints and, in turn, getting a sincere response from them. Others have simply taken advantage of a company's weak social media efforts. Here are some of the funniest social media pranks on corporations you'll ever read.
The National Republican Congressional Committee
In June 2012 the NRCC thought it would be a good idea to set up an online petition where you could sign it and then see your signed petition print out on a live Ustream completely unfiltered. You can imagine what happened next:
Names like "Weedlord Bonerhitler" and "Boner Junkmonkey" became much more common than actual signatures and they were being displayed on the NRCC's Tumblr page. According to The Verge,the NRCC's Digital Director said they expected this to happen and their goal was for it to go viral in order to collect emails for their campaign. No matter what was intended, watching a printer being trolled for hours is incredibly hilarious. Here's a sample of the footage that ends with the printer breaking down, ending on the name Bruce Dackler. It's not known whether or not Bruce Dackler is a real name or another prank, but his infamy will live on forever.
Exile Pitbull
In July 2012 Pitbull teamed with Wal-Mart for a promotion that would send "Mr. Worldwide" to perform a concert at whatever local Wal-Mart got the most Facebook fans. David Thorpe, a writer at The Boston Phoenix, came up with the idea to send him to the most remote Wal-Mart in the country -- in Kodiak, Alaska.
The concept quickly caught on and the Kodiak Wal-Mart, in a city with 6,100 people, ended up with over 75,000 fans. Pitbull was a great sport about it and not only did the show but invited Thorpe to join him on the trip. You have to hand it to Pitbull's PR team, they found a way to turn him getting sent as far away as possible into a good thing.
Applebee's Patriotism
One of the most asinine things that large companies will do is use social media to post generic, broad statements in order to gain exposure. Obviously you don't want to lose any potential business and you can't take a chance on offending anyone, so instead they keep it to subjects that no one could possibly disagree with. The most bizarre was on September 11th last year when companies like Dunkin' Donuts, Ace Hardware, and Applebee's began tweeting about how we will never forget September 11th. It may not seem that weird but, as Slacktory points out, when a tweet like this:
Ends up plastered between two tweets like this:
It doesn't exactly seem sincere. Also, did anyone question Applebee's' or Ace Hardware's feelings on terrorism? That's where a few Twitter users jumped in and began creating havoc for the Applebee's social media marketing team with tweets like this:
Now clearly these guys aren't mocking a tragedy, but rather a company's attempt to gain a few followers by sticking a sincere tweet in between appetizer coupons. For more, you can check out Twitchy, who unintentionally created a hilarious play-by-play of all the tweets.
Corporate Twits
Most of the time the pranks on social media platforms aren't as big as sending Pitbull to Alaska, they're quick one-liners that would go unnoticed unless you knew exactly where to look. Lucky for us there's Corporate Twits. Although it is no longer updated, here you will find pages of hilarious messages to companies that actually responded. Here are just a few examples of the absurd questions that have gotten responses:
For more fun you can check out how the creator of Corporate Twits started a worldwide rumor that Scott Baio had died of diaper rash.
