Followers of Chrysler’s official Twitter account (@ChryslerAutos) saw some salty language come their way on Wednesday. The offending tweet read “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f—ing drive.”
For a big brand, it’s an embarrassing moment when you drop the f-bomb in public. Behind the scenes, on the floor, behind closed doors, it’s fine. But in public? No way. Not even for a brand whose poster child, Eminem, is an f-ing f-bomb poet.
They removed it (naturally) and offered an apology (naturally), but here’s the kicker. They released this sanctimonious statement on their blog:
This morning an inappropriate comment was issued from the Chrysler brand Twitter handle, @ChryslerAutos, via our social media agency of record, New Media Strategies (NMS). After further investigation, it was discovered that the statement was issued by an NMS employee, who has since been terminated.
Chrysler Group and its brands do not tolerate inappropriate language or behavior, and apologize to anyone who may have been offended by this communication.
Hold on a second… Chrysler had a real agency doing those tweets, and they only have 8,000 followers? They should have been fired a long time ago.
This f-ing controversy is probably attracting more attention to their Twitter account than they’ve ever received, which is absolutely sad. It means they can’t find a sizable fanbase for their product or for the way they talk about their product.
And don’t get us started on tying Chrysler to Detroit, the #motorcity, a city that most people around the world don’t care about, except that it makes the folks behind Robocop look like psychic geniuses for predicting how quickly it would devolve into unstoppable urban decay. No amount of Eminem commercials can stop that. They’re tying themselves (brand-wise) to an anchor.
After benefiting from multiple million-dollar ad spends across TV, radio, and digital, only having 8,000 followers is more embarrassing than dropping the f-bomb.
The offending tweet:
