SMEG Fail: Qantas Luxury

Submitted by James Purser on Tue, 2011-11-22 13:05

So, as you may know, Qantas (the formerly govt owned, but now privately owned Australian national airline) has not exactly been kicking goals PR wise. It began with the AGM, continued with the lockout and hasn't really gotten any better.

However today I am glad to say that the Qantas PR machine has scored a spectacular goal.

Unfortunately it was in their own net.

This morning they announced a competition on twitter:

"Ever wanted to experience Qantas First Class luxury? You could win a First Class gift pack feat. a luxury amenity kit and our famous QF PJs." link

"To enter tell us 'What is your dream luxury inflight experience? (Be creative!) Answer must include #QantasLuxury.TCs t.co/WDTO0FKG" link

Yup, they've just asked twitter to give them examples of what they consider to be "dream luxury" experiences just weeks after grounding their fleet and inconveniencing tens of thousands of people, can you see where this is going?

Let me show you what a couple of people have been saying in response:

StephenDahn: "Flights that leave on schedule because Management doesn't arbitrarily shut down the airline" link

RobStott: "is the free meal voucher that comes with a freshly grounded flight." link

For the full treatment I suggest you visit:

https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23qantasluxury

This really is a textbook case of what not to do. The twitter crowd is not friendly to what it perceives to be bulldust, and this campaign has certainly triggered the bulldust-o-metre coming the day after negotiations collapsed in the long running industrial relations dispute.