As we try to catch our breath from last week’s BAFTAs, it feels like The Oscars has come round rather fast.
Martin Scorsese’s barely had a chance to dye his eyebrows let alone or change out of his Golden Globe and BAFTA tuxedos.
The 92nd Academy Awards is anticipated to be the most expensive Oscars to date. In fact, ABC alone will earn $149 million from advertising revenue during the four-hour marathon show. The lucrative nature of The Oscars means businesses big and small will try to gain some valuable brand exposure. Businesses will attempt to somehow link the awards ceremony with their business’ brand, however tenuous those links may be.
However, a lot of businesses can’t afford the $2.6million for a 30-second commercial shot.
If that’s the case, what other ways can they harness the pulling power of the Oscars?
Social media is certainly one way.
Platforms like Twitter and Instagram are powerful tools during events like the Oscars. Believe it or not, Tweets during the 86th Academy Award (The Oscars 2014) received 3.3 billion impressions in 48 hours.
While most of us will be looking out for the next Ellen DeGeneres #Oscars tweet, there will be some businesses that catch the eye on social media platforms.
And not necessarily for the right reasons.
So, let’s avoid cheap puns around ‘rolling out the red carpet’, and look at our nominations for worst Oscar tweets by businesses.
1. Bing
Claiming popularity in comparison to your rivals is natural in business.
Many businesses use this as a crude tactic to show the difference between their competitors and their special selves. It’s a move that can be seen as witty and/or cringe-worthy to audiences.
In Bing’s case, this was the latter rather than the former.
Bing’s attempt to draw lines between Oscars swag bags and people’s search engine preference was a complete disaster. Putting aside the fact that Bing’s users are dwarfed by Google’s, the fact it got a meager 12 likes tells you all about the tweet’s success.
Needless to say, all of Bing’s twitter responses were either negative or conversations around the contents of the Oscars swag bag.
A complete exposure own-goal by Microsoft’s search engine.
2. Samsung Mobile
From the untrue to the simply unpopular, Samsung’s Oscars tweet leaves more questions than it answers.
Tim Burton had collaborated with Samsung to make a commercial for their new Galaxy Notebook 10.1. In addition, Burton’s new film Frankenweenie (anyone?) was up for a nomination for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars.
With this in mind, it’d make sense that Samsung’s tweet relating to Tim Burton would gain some online traction right?
Sadly not.
Only one engagement was made with the post, leaving Samsung feeling under-appreciated by its millions of Twitter followers.
Perhaps mentioning blood when talking about a child-friendly film director didn’t go down so well with Samsung fans? Maybe Samsung had already sucked all the audience’s attention to its great TV commercial. Either way, the results were worse than Edward Scissorhands playing basketball.
3. Mucinex
Colds and viruses aren’t supposed to brush shoulders with the glitz and glamour of the Hollywood elite. Generally speaking, mucus and illness interactions are best suited to rainy evenings in January when people are run down from the festive season.
Mucinex tried to break this stereotype and fell flat on its rear end.
Mucinex’s mucous monster presented as an Oscars award with the #BlameMucus got some quick laughs for sure. But ultimately, people don’t want to think about clogged sinuses while they’re waiting for the Best Supporting Actor to be announced.
With four retweets and four likes, Mucinex’s tweet was a resounding failure.
4. Clorox
Keeping the gross theme going, Clorox hit an absolute home-run with this attempt at ruining the image of a childhood classic.
Why The Wizard Of Oz gave Clorox the rights to use Dorothy’s ruby slippers I’ll never know.
Clorox’s ‘Toilet Wand’ tweet offers a distasteful comparison between Oz’s famous “There’s no place like home” and a toilet seat.
Surprisingly, Clorox’s twitter restroom antics gained them 50 engagements: 25 retweets and 25 likes to be precise. As funny as it was for the public, it still makes our worst list for its corruption of one of Hollywood’s most beloved heroines.
I know what you’re thinking.
Given the decent exposure that Clorox received, isn’t this tweet’s inclusion a little bit harsh?
Well, no.
Clorox’s decision to combine the celebration of the 75th anniversary of a classic movie with toilet cleaning products is a big no-no for business branding (and Wizard of Oz fans like myself).
5. New York Life
Our last tweet on the list is arguably the worst.
For one, New York Life’s lame endeavor to rhyme Potters and Skywalker doesn’t work. Moreover, neither Harry Potter or Star Wars were up for an Oscars nomination, adding more mystery to this confusing tweet.
New York Life’s tweet had a solitary retweet and like, as people were left baffled as to the link between the Oscars and its product.
As New York Life offers life insurance, there is at least a link to the topic of family. Yet, the comment ‘favorite movie family’ is weird. If we have a favorite movie family, are we meant to infer we should get life insurance for our favorite ‘real’ family? Bizarre.
There you have it! Here’s hoping that this year we’re spending more time talking about the best movies of the past year and not which businesses made social media posts worse than the CGI in Cats.
