Suffice to say, asking Americans to remember one of the worst attacks on their country by a foreign power by sharing a picture of a giant, smiling piece of pasta waving an American flag probably wasn’t wise. But that’s what SpaghettiOs — the canned spaghetti product from Campbell Soup Company — did on Twitter. Twelve hours after posting it, and in response to negative reaction, the brand pulled the tweet.
The company posted an apology early on December 7 — Pearl Harbor Day — saying that “We apologize for our recent tweet in remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day. We meant to pay respect, not to offend.”
We apologize for our recent tweet in remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day. We meant to pay respect, not to offend. — SpaghettiOs (@SpaghettiOs) December 7, 2013
The tweet that SpaghettiOs acknowledged being offensive was also removed. It went out on the evening of December 6, asking people to “Take a moment to remember #PearlHarbor with us,” along with this picture:
At the time we originally posted this story (2:23am ET), the tweet had nearly 3,000 retweets and just over 1,000 favorites. Those stats probably shouldn’t be taken as sign of popularity but rather shock or disgust, judging from some of the comments in reaction to the tweet, including:
.@mbrun12 I can’t wait for the official @SpaghettiOs 9/11 tweet. — Suzan Eraslan (@SuzanEraslan) December 7, 2013
@SpaghettiOs I would really like to know who is going to be fired tomorrow because of this — kenton ☠ sheely (@ksheely) December 7, 2013
Nothing says remember our veterans who endured a surprise attack like a twerking Miley Cyrus looking @SpaghettiOs! http://t.co/9qkJQ8Dl29 — Brian Pelletier (@bpelletier1) December 7, 2013
“You want a date which will live in infamy? I’ll give you a date which will live in infamy.” —@SpaghettiOs social media team — Daniel Radosh (@danielradosh) December 7, 2013
Hey @SpaghettiOs, it takes real balls to use a bloody and horrific tragedy as marketing. #shameful pic.twitter.com/CTM3GIDnmp — jam (@jamileh) December 7, 2013
Really invokes the warfare and death of that moment RT @SpaghettiOs: Take a moment to remember #PearlHarbor with us. pic.twitter.com/JBhPHlfpyH — Curtis Harris (@ProHoopsHistory) December 7, 2013
Comedian Patton Oswalt, with 1.5 million Twitter followers, shared a number of tweets mocking the SpaghettiOs one, including:
Dear @SpaghettiOs: Genuinely afraid to scroll back & see what you Tweeted on the 50th anniversary of JFKs assassination. — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 7, 2013
“I know how we’ll fix this! Somebody photoshop Mr. O shaking hands with Mandela!” — damage control at the @SpaghettiOs Twitter feed — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 7, 2013
“Uh-oh, @SpaghettiOs the humanity!” pic.twitter.com/FMY5AbYIvy — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 7, 2013
@pattonoswalt Join SpaghettiO’s in remembering Kent State. pic.twitter.com/7E9kfij6cf — Adam Koford (@apelad) December 7, 2013
“Uh-oh, @SpaghettiOs the humanity!” pic.twitter.com/FMY5AbYIvy — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 7, 2013
Not all the comments I read in reaction were bad (see some yourself with this search on Twitter). A few even felt those expressing outrage were overreacting. It’s hard to judge what the overall sentiment was. But I wouldn’t say it was positive, and I thought the tweet might get pulled because of it, as I wrote in the first edition of this story. Looks like that was the case.
By the way, earlier this week another Campbell’s brand — Pace Salsa — seemed caught up in a Twitter fiasco. However, that was a prank between two comedians involving a fake account, so it wasn’t down to Campbell’s at all.
Postscript: This story has been updated to reflect the apology and the original tweet being pulled. Also, in the first edition of the story, we wrote that Campbell’s had acknowledged the tweet to be a mistake. This was based on a tweet from Adam Kmiec, who tweeted, “I find it fascinating and sad how the social media community turns on their own, when a brand makes a mistake. Don’t throw stones…”
Kmiec, who we profiled recently, was head of social media marketing for Campbell’s. However, he tweeted today that he no longer works at Campbell’s, implying also that he didn’t at the time of the SpaghettiO tweet yesterday. He appears to have left some time between December 3 and December 6, since as of December 2, he tweeted as still being part of Campbell’s. We did email him after our story first went up but received no response.
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