Volkswagen India Twitter Goofup

Couple of days back we noticed a sudden outrage on twitter against @VolkswagenIndia. It started off with their uber-cool advertising stint in the local newspapers which ”vibrated”.

And then it quickly moved on to twitter as people started mocking their campaign. Volkswagen India surprised people with their response –

@VolkswagenIndia: “Women would be dumb to call it a vibrator. Or maybe they do not understand real driving experience. #PunIntended #Volkswagen #Creative” 

Dear VW, how utterly stupid of you to spend $$$ on mass media campaign & stuff it all up by hiring a moron for ur SM. twitter.com/saffrontrail/s…

— saffrontrail (@saffrontrail) September 11, 2012

And then, the agency/brand came up with the brilliant never-been-done-before idea of deleting the tweet. Too late folks!

And this isn’t the first time a brand has stated the same reason. Fortis Healthcare’s Twitter Campaign #AgarMaKaDudhPiaHaiTo went wrong recently for the hastag they used and later tweeted that their  “account was compromised”

And today, Volkswagen India did the same!

Our Volkswagen twitter handle got compromised. We officially distance ourselves from it. We are investigating this issue.

— Volkswagen India (@volkswagenindia) September 14, 2012

We wonder if the brand/agency will ever stand up and take charge of the mistake they made and not come up with such absurd reasons! Also, if the brand would have said a simple “sorry” and be apologetic, it might have worked for them.

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