Grocery store accidentally posts internal message in window
A Sainsbury’s store posted a banner for the chain’s ‘fifty pence challenge’ to the public. Twitter began ridiculing it immediately.
It’s always worth reminding communications pros that internal communications—no matter how much you don’t want it to reach the public—is just a tweet away from becoming a PR nightmare.
Take the case of British grocery chain Sainsbury’s. The company wanted to boost sales, so it came up with the “Fifty pence challenge” for its employees, asking them to “encourage every customer to spend an additional 50p during each shopping trip between now and year-end.”
The company distributed signs to the stores, presumably to put up in the break room. Only one location put it in the window:
.@sainsburys not sure this is supposed to be in your window… pic.twitter.com/Zk9GCliIWO
— Chris Dodd (@mynameischrisd) September 29, 2014
You’re reading that correctly: 4,600+ retweets.
Sainsbury’s tried to rectify the situation quickly, and responded within minutes:
@mynameischrisd Yeah, I don’t think so either. Which store was this? I’ll give them a call. Ross.
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