The PR team of British singer Susan Boyle delivered the twittersphere a collective heart attack yesterday with the joyful peddling of a hashtag nobody thought to double-check.
All signs of the hashtag #susanalbumparty have since been scratched from Boyle's official Twitter account, but a screengrab of the original post indicates the intention was innocent.
“Susan will be answering your questions at her exclusive album listening party on Saturday. Send in your questions #susanalbumparty Susan HQ.”
That's right. Susan album party. It didn't, of course, mean 'Sus anal bum party', but the distinction was pretty unclear.
While it's highly unlikely the 51-year-old regular church-goer was encouraging the whole internet to join a rude adult party, many pondered whether Boyle's team had deliberately cooked up a gimmick destined to go viral.
Given the speedy deletion of the tweet, it's pretty safe to say the whole thing was an unfortunate Twitter misfire. Boyle's account later renewed the campaign by publishing the considerably safer hashtag: #SusanBoyleAlbumParty, capital letters included.
It's hardly the first Twitter PR stuff-up, but is it the funniest we have seen in a long time. Here are some of the top contenders for #hashtag fail of the year:
1. #Clickfrenzyfail: Touted as the online shopping event of the year, Click Frenzy was a 24-hour online sale meant to give major retailers a chance to flex their might on the web. However, site failures caused the event to flop, and users took to Twitter to vent their frustration.
2. #QantasLuxury: Designed to get Qantas customers talking about their dream in-flight experience, many users instead took the chance to slam the airline. It didn't help that the campaign was released shortly after the grounding of the entire Qantas fleet due to an industrial dispute.
3. #WithHeartLocal: Coffee brand Gloria Jeans wanted to promote its fundraising efforts for charity with this hashtag. Tweeps used the campaign to illustrate their opposition to the brand's donation to the Australian Christian Lobby and particularly the group's anti-same sex marriage stance.
