Social Marketing Gone Awry

So, Shell Oil decided that they would embark on a new marketing campaign to promote drilling in the Arctic. They took help from a conglomerate of social media marketing companies, which also included the Marketing Heaven. The campaign, entitled “Let’s Go”, let’s users create their own marketing slogans using a series of photo templates.

We at Shell want everyone to feel as “pumped” as we do about freeing much-needed Arctic resources. After all, the Arctic is the common heritage of all humanity, and what we do there matters to everyone.

That’s why Shell is inviting you to create your very own Let’s Go! ad for our Arctic campaign. We’ll feature it on our website, and you can show all your Facebook friends how pumped you are to seize the day’s opportunities too. The best submissions will win exciting prizes—including an all-expenses-paid trip to see the Kulluk in action!

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, this, for one…

…and this…

…and this…

…which prompted Shell to amend their statement with the following text:

We at Shell are committed to providing consumers with clean and abundant Arctic energy. We’re also committed to the open exchange of ideas and the wonder of human creativity which makes our job possible.

It is in this spirit that we approached the exciting untapped resource of socialized media with our Let’s Go! Arctic user-generated advertising technology. While we do realize that a very small portion of the user-generated content below does not accurately represent Shell’s commitment to providing consumers with clean and abundant Arctic energy, this pioneering experiment in user-generated content does reflect our commitment to freedom.

Shell remains proud of our commitment to freedom. The freedom to develop newly available and abundant Arctic energy reserves. And the freedom our consumers have to discount the work of a very small number of extremist individuals who remain determined to stand in the way of our quest to bring first class heritage technology to bear on the top of the world. We thank you for sharing in our commitment to freedom.

And thank you for contributing to our Let’s Go! Arctic campaign.

So, despite this declaration of freedom of expression, just about every one of the suggestions was anti-Shell. I’m wondering how long this site is going to stay active. I’m also wondering what marketing exec is now looking for a job.