Qantas Has 'Epic PR Fail' With Twitter Campaign

It's not a great time to ask customers to tweet 'luxury' suggestions
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 22, 2011 2:35 PM CST
Updated Nov 27, 2011 7:07 AM CST
Qantas Luxury Contest on Twitter an Embarrassment
A man waits at the Qantas terminal at Sydney Airport for Qantas to resume flying on Oct. 31.   (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

It’s been a rough stretch for Qantas. First, the Australian airline abruptly stranded customers around the world amid a contract fight with its unions; then those talks collapsed entirely; this week, the firm ticked off customers again with a contest on Twitter. It asked people to tweet their “dream luxury in-flight experience,” and customers were happy to oblige, Reuters reports. One wrote that luxury was “more than 3mins notice that the whole airline is on strike."

Another wrote that Qantas luxury was “being stranded on the other side of the world without warning when you just want to get home to your 10-month-old daughter." And on and on. PR experts called it a disaster. “Epic PR fail, excellent case study in corporate cultural tone deafness. Simply don't get it,” said one. Qantas sounded unfazed, however, coming back with a joke: “At this rate our #QantasLuxury competition is going to take years to judge.” (More Qantas stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X