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Bing's Tactless Tsunami Tweet Provokes Twitter Rage

by Matthew Zuras on March 14, 2011 at 10:45 AM

bing's japan tweet
Did we learn nothing from Kenneth Cole's tasteless Twitter gaffe? Or is Microsoft just employing the same marketing brain trusts?

Japan is on everyone's mind --at least, we hope -- and the tech giant's flacks haven't ignored that. Saturday morning, a message of hope callow douchebaggery came out of the official Bing Twitter account: "How you can #SupportJapan -For every retweet, bing will give $1 to Japan quake victims, up to $100K."

When massive companies decide to help out with major catastrophes, it's generally not so quid pro quo. A whole dollar if you help promote the Bing brand? All press profiteering off of epic disasters is good press, right? Naturally, Twitter exploded.

Gawker credits comedian Michael Ian Black with birthing the #fuckyoubing tag. But regardless of where it began, the sentiment quickly spread. (Unsurprisingly, a lot of Japanese Twitter users have taken to the #fuckyoubing tag, too.) In fact, it would appear that #fuckyoubing caught on much more quickly than #SupportJapan. Bing became aware of the movement, and forthrightly admitted its crass error: "We apologize the tweet was negatively perceived. Intent was to provide an easy way for people to help Japan. We have donated $100K." Damage control!

If you want to help out, don't support Bing. Instead, donate to Mercy Corps or the American Red Cross.

Tags: bing, gaffes, japan, japan earthquake, japan tsunami, JapanEarthquake, JapanTsunami, jerks, Microsoft, SocialNetworking, top, twitter

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