Since last week’s catastrophic earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown triple-threat devastated large parts of northeastern Japan, many large organisations have jumped in to aid donations that will go towards helping those affected by the crisis. Gadget accessory manufacturer AViiQ have put up a special Facebook page pledging to donate $1 for every “Like” they get, with a minimum donation of $5,000. Meanwhile, Apple Inc. has set up a special iTunes page offering one-click donations of between $5 and $200, with the promise that 100% of the donated cash will go to the Red Cross.
Microsoft Corp. got in on the act too, promising to donate $1 for every time a tweet from Bing was retweeted. Unfortunately, while outwardly no more self-promoting than the campaign by AViiQ, Bing’s tweet was picked up on by comedian Michael Ian Black, who replied saying “Hey @bing, stop using a tragedy as a fucking marketing opportunity.”
From there the negative sentiment grew, with Black’s message being repeated with increasing regularity. Eventually, around six hours after their original offer Microsoft capitulated and stopped the campaign, donating $100,000 dollars to the Japan relief effort as penance.
So was Microsoft wrong to attempt to cash in on people’s good will for a bit of promotion? Of course not, such campaigns are used every day, and to good effect. Regrettably for the software giant, their message may have fallen just slightly over the line that separates marketing and genuine do-goodery, and in a world where the general public are more and more conscious of being marketed to, it didn’t fly. Combine this with the immense scale of the tragedy in Japan and you’ve got a recipe for a PR disaster. We’re sure Bing’s cold, corporate heart was in the right place, but in this case the marketeers got in the way of the message.
MocoNews has a useful list of text-to-donate service if you’re in a charitable mood.
