Chrysler's "F'ing" Tweet no LOL matter to Detroit
In this June 18, 2009 file photo, the Chrysler logo shines on the grille of a 2009 Chrysler Town & Country minivan at a Chrysler-Jeep dealership in the Colorado city of Centennial.
/ AP Photo/David Zalubowski"I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one knows how to f***ing drive," tweeted @ChryslerAutos, the official Chrysler handle, on Wednesday. The f-word was unfortunately fully spelled out in that hash-tagged denigration of Detroit and even if it hadn't been, mocking the Motor City seemed a rather odd tact for a carmaker whose new slogan, "Imported from Detroit", is meant to portend a comeback for a city that, along with American auto companies that inhabit it, has fallen on particularly hard times during the economic downturn.
Chrysler quickly deleted the errant message and tweeted that its account had been "compromised." As it turns out, the original profanity-laced tweet was sent out from Chrysler's twitter account by an employee of New Media Strategies, the company hired by Chrysler to help handle its social media communications. Chrysler said in a statement on its official blog that the person "has since been terminated."
"Chrysler Group and its brands do not tolerate inappropriate language or behavior, and apologize to anyone who may have been offended by this communication," said the Chrysler statement. "Furthermore, the Company has set in place appropriate steps to ensure that this does not happen again."
Precisely what those "appropriate steps" were became clear on Thursday when the automaker announced that it would not be renewing its contract with New Media Strategies. "This company is committed to promoting Detroit and its hard-working people", Ed Garsten, Chrysler's Manager of Social Media, said in a blog post.
"[W]e appreciate the challenges Detroit faces in reclaiming its place as a vibrant, world-class city. Inside Detroit, citizens are becoming even more proud of their town, and outside the region, perception of Detroit is rapidly improving," Garsten explained. "With so much goodwill built up over a very short time, we can't afford to backslide now and jeopardize this progress."
Well-said, Ed. And whoever that now-former New Media Strategies employee is, it's safe to say he or she isn't LOLing.
Carter Yang is a Washington-based producer for the CBS Evening News. He covers the White House, aviation, transportation, and homeland security.
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Tact is a description of a person who knows how to do things properly. You should have used "tack", which is a sailing term used to mean "direction", e.g. "Take a new tack" or "It seemed that they took a rather odd tack".
The person who tweeted and lost their job took a rather odd tack, and his lack of tact lost him his job.
I nearly got wiped out by a driver swerving without warning, across the double white lines of the on ramp, from the freeway, who didn't bother to wait until they reached the merge over lane to exit, and who didn't bother to look, before they swerved over.
Double white lines, for the uneducated, means "do not cross" stupid!
At least it would have been wise for Chrysler to announce that "We are not f-ing firing anyone because of saying the f-ing truth! We have to make a thorough f-ing research of the f-ing subject first before f-ing judging of the f-ing individual... Besides, we make the best f-ing cars, we are the best f-ing engineers, not priests nor f-ing educational teachers! "