Life

AirBNB Campaign Freaks Out Twitter Users

AirBNB created an inadvertent creepfest this week when they ran a new ad campaign on their Twitter account, which was presumably meant to inspire the gauzy, artsy spirit of wanderlust amongst their followers. One example? "Sleep in their beds, so you may know their dreams." However, the three tweets they published in succession (below) didn't quite hit the mark.

Instead, it mostly freaked people out on Twitter, thanks to the stalkerish tone implied by inhabiting another person's life while vacationing in their home. It turns out that most AirBNB users don't really like being reminded of the fact that their intimate, homey hotel alternative is actually another person's home. Or that the owners of that home actually sleep, dream, and have sex in that bed you're sleeping in, along with potentially any other AirBNB guests who stay there. Also, looking through a person's windows while they're home is invasive and generally frowned upon, as is showing up to dinner unannounced.

Of course, when a social media ad campaign misfires this badly, the entire Twittersphere doesn't hesitate to quickly unleash their inner Don Draper submitting snarky edits. Eeeeeeveryone's a copywriter.

Here are the first three tweets from AirBNB that sparked the madness.

And Twitter's response:

Lesson learned: leave the artsy, evocative, emotion-stirring ads to Google. You just try to distract customers from the inherent creepiness of the service your company provides. (Actually, that's probably exactly what Google's doing right.)