Yahoo News Walkers Crisps Twitter campaign backfires
UPDATE: Walkers has seen the error of its ways and mercifully ended this ill-conceived campaign - much to the relief of star Gary Lineker, we're sure.
We recognise people were offended by irresponsible & offensive posts & we apologise. We are equally upset & have shut the activity down.
- Walkers Crisps (@walkers_crisps) May 25, 2017
Had an unusual day in some very strange company. I'm sure we'll wave goodbye to them all by tomorrow.
- Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) May 25, 2017
ORIGINAL: An online promotional campaign by Walkers has backfired, resulting in dozens of videos where Gary Lineker inadvertently ends up holding photos of serial killers, dictators and other disturbing figures.
The #WalkersWave campaign was a simple enough concept: give Twitter users the chance to win tickets for the Champions League Final in Cardiff. All they had to do was tweet a selfie to Walkers, and an automated system would respond from @WalkersCrisps with a video featuring Gary holding up a photo of their face, inserted into the video.
"Want to win tickets to the UEFA Champions League final*? Just reply with your selfie & #WalkersWave" said Walkers.
Of course, the internet had other ideas.
Rather than sending pictures of their own faces, trolls have been submitting mugshots of dictators and famous criminals (including serial killers and sex offenders).
As a result, the automated system has created videos of Gary unwittingly posing next to people including Joseph Stalin, Harold Shipman, Jimmy Savile and Josef Fritzl.
Walkers: Let's run a promotion where people can send in selfies to win match tickets.
Brilliant! How can it fail? #WalkersWave pic.twitter.com/7bQlj1zIWC- Ben (@Jamin2g) May 25, 2017
There's Gary Lineker with Joseph Stalin. Well done, Walkers. Well done. #WalkersWave pic.twitter.com/7jwMogLOdh
- Ben (@Jamin2g) May 25, 2017
Walkers has been furiously deleting the offending tweets – but to complicate matters further, the #WalkersWave campaign has also been displaying a number of tweets on enormous public screens in Cardiff city centre ahead of the Champions League final.
The automated system now running #WalkersWave appears to have stopped responding with videos – no doubt as the PR team assess the damage and whether the campaign can continue.
We've reached out to Walkers for comment, and will update as more info becomes available.
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