DiGiorno DiSaster

Domestic volence has been a topic for conversation in the media recently, largely due to a video being released showing a violent interaction between NFL star Ray Rice and his wife. The NFL has recieved heat for waiting to take action until the media was shown the video. In response, Ray Rice has been suspended and several more players are recieving simialr punishments for acts of violence that have been recently reported.

Immediately after the Ray Rice domestic violence video went viral, social media sites were a buzz with critisisms as well as with conversation about domestic violence. Twitter began to have two hashtags trending: #WhyIStayed and #WhyI Left. The #WhyIStayed included victims of domestic vioelence courageously sharing their stories and or reasons he or she stayed with the abuser. This began stimulating mature and informative conversation about an issue often times swept under the rug. The hashtag was being used as a vessel for those involved to share their testimonies and have a chance to explain to the world the complications involved with staying versus leaving when involved with domestic violence.

However, DiGiorno in an attempt to join the chatter tweeted: "#WhyIStayed You had pizza." and essentially "newsjacked" the conversation.


This extremely inappropriate and poorly planned tweet has cost the pizza company by obviously causing a lot of heat and backlash from the media and consumers. DiGiorno's response? Claiming ignorance. The company is claiming that the indivdual responsible for the tweet did not understand the context of the trendign topic when heor she made the insensitive joke while using a hashtag connected to an incredibly sensitive and personal issue.

I get that everyone makes mistakes, but not understanding a hashtag is an easy mistake to be avoided. If DiGiorno had even clicked on the hashtag to read any of the associated tweets, the context of the hashtag would have been extremely obvious.

I see two potential explanations. Someone tweeted from the DiGiorno account who, indeed, did not understand the hashtag. In this case, accidents do happen (dispite this being an EASILY avoidable mistake). I would hope the DiGiorno comapny has removed that individual from any social media involvment and possibly from the company. However, the second explanation involves "newsjacking". Essentially newsjacking occurs when an individual or company uses the popularity or relevance of a newsworthy event to direct the conversation towards their message, brand, or cause. For example, during the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge many participants posted videos of the ice bucket challenge but made points or directed the conversation away from ALS and toward a topic of their choosing to make an unrelated statement. I think DiGiorno may be guilty of newsjacking in this situation, whether or not this was the intention. The company's tweet turned the conversation from a way for the world to learn more about an issue not commonly discussed but extremely widesopread, to jokes about pizza.

However, I will again acknowledge that accidents happen. Whether or not someone at DiGiorno tweeted this on purpose or on accident, the company did everything right to make ammends after the tweet had been removed. DiGiorno immediately tweeted an apology, acknowledged their fault in the issue, and even responded to almost all the tweets from upset Twitter users to apologize. I do applaud their damage control in this situation, however there is still no excuse for the mistake.

Moral of the story, brands NEED to understand the context of an issue or discussion before joining in just to gain attention or followers on any paltform. And even if accidental, cosnuemrs will not view a brand favorably that seems to be "newsjacking" a serious headline. There are better ways to get the brand name out there, especially with proper social media use and content marketing.

Article Referenced:
http://www.idigitaltimes.com/digiorno-pizza-why-i-stayed-tweet-causes-public-backlash-381525