The internet nearly had a meltdown after Busch Beer announced a 17% Pumpkin Spice Latte 17% Hard Seltzer. Busch thought it was being funny. Some others thought it was serious, resulting in such tweets as: “busch came out with a seltzer with 17%abv… I swear these companies jus tryna compete to see who can kill us all first now (@aultCourtnet).
That led Busch Beer to put out a new tweet: “Calm down guys. It’s a joke. We would never interrupt brewing the nectar of the gods.”
That, as much as anything, summarizes the danger of social media. It’s all too easy to be misinterpreted. And to damage your brand reputation.
Of course, you don’t have to seek to be funny to get into trouble. Or to engage, Busch Beer-style, in fake news. On the very day that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic presidential hopeful, apologized to Native American tribes for claiming to be one of them, Manhattan Project Beer Co. re-released Bikini Atoll beer.
The internet was outraged (of course – isn’t that what the internet is all about?), and the National Nuclear Commission of the Marshall Islands assailed the brewery for its “frivolous use of Bikini’s name” while ignoring the “devastation, injuries and damages associated with U.S. Government activities on Bikini Atoll.”