Tricking the Critics

Some consumers always stand on the forefront, waiting to catch errors and point out the mistakes of companies' statements or advertisements as if it gains them some sort of personal reward or satisfaction. While most brands have always despised this type of customer, some companies have learned to utilize this one annoying buzz to their advantage.

Hostess recently released an advertisement in which they posted "Touchdown" to commemorate the opening of baseball season. While many younger online users realize this to be "trolling" or the action of purposely trying to generate a rise out of people by posting controversial or subjective material, other users haven't caught on and began causing a widely publicized stir about the brand's "mistake". While some marketers may argue that it is negative publicity for the company, many others claim it is brilliant as most of the consumer base sees and feels like they are in on the joke thus causing no harm to the overall brand image. 

Monster.com also released a similar online advertisement following the Superbowl in which they congratulated the wrong team for the big win. However when the user hovered their mouse cursor over the advertisement, a new line appeared with the text, "No matter why you're looking for a new job, we can help you find better," followed with the congratulations for the correct winning team and a job search for Social Media Manager. Using these types of fake mistakes in one's marketing tactics are a creative way to generate attention to one's advertisements and gain more publicity than a regular advertisement. The key here is to just make sure that the "mistake" is visible to most of the viewers as a joke, otherwise the real joke is on the brand.