Social Media Disaster: #myNYPD Twitter Campaign Gone Wrong

Imaging planning a marketing campaign on Twitter with a unique hashtag to promote customer engagement, but that hashtag unintentionally becomes a tool to self-destroy your public image.

Well that’s exactly what happened the New York Police Department’s social media movement yesterday, when the organization promoted users to share aspiring photos with members of the NYPD using hashtag #myNYPD.

Do you have a photo w/ a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD. It may be featured on our Facebook. pic.twitter.com/mE2c3oSmm6
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 22, 2014

Though what started as an initiative for positive image branding soon backfired when the internet used that hashtag, #myNYPD, to publicize photos of accused police brutality.

This major social media fail goes to show how companies ought to be cautious in planning marketing campaigns on social media networks. Brands must understand that marketing on the internet is unlike other forms of media, because the power of the internet belongs to the people themselves.