Can Memes Destroy Brands? If yes, then How? – Let’s Find Out

Examples of How Memes Affected Brands Negatively 

1. Coors Light

For avid beer drinkers, Coors is the sippy cup version of the beer. It’s too light to be considered as ‘real beer’ and is often compared to pee. Although later it was proved that the news was fake. 

The story that sparked the uproar quoted information from a Foolish Humor post headlined “Budweiser employee admits pissing into beer tanks for 12 years.” 

“This website is a funny page whose primary aim is entertainment,” the site’s ‘about us‘ section explicitly states. “Foolish Humor is a work of fiction that does not reflect reality.”

But the damage was already done, and people didn’t waste a moment when it came to slandering the brand.

2. United Airlines

This American airline recently received widespread criticism after beating and dragging a customer off the plane because there weren’t enough “volunteers” willing to give up their seats for employees.

The airline was also chastised for not allowing teenage girls to fly in leggings because they broke the family dress code regulation.

3. Apple

You’d think that nothing could bend Apple sales. That’s perhaps true for the most part, but in this age of the bandwagon, we’re sure memes have changed the minds of a lot of people. Especially when all they talk about is how Android outperforms Apple in every respect.

4. Samsung

Samsung had a major dip in sales when their Galaxy Note 7 phones took ‘being lit’ too seriously. Samsung has still not recovered from the nightmare; however, memes aren’t the only ones to be blamed for that reality.

5. Lays

In the early 2000s, the King of Chips in India became famous when people all around the world openly mocked their “lack of chip” quality. People prefer to spend their rupees on superior chip firms since there are so many options.

6. Fair and Lovely

Our country’s oldest cosmetic brand is also quite often the target of internet memes and we’re sure its urban target group is beginning to realize its product is not completely effective.

That concludes our brief discussion of how memes may be utilized to harm a company’s image. Although it is not just the responsibility of memes for the company’s negative perspective, it is also the fault of the firms themselves.

These were just a few examples of how memes have the power to negatively impact a brand’s image. 

In such cases, the immediate response of a company should be crisis management if the situation goes out of control.

Learn how you can manage a company’s reputation on the Internet and build solutions for damage control with this Online Reputation Management Course. 

We thank you for taking the time to read our blog. If we have missed out on any brand be sure to comment it down below and let us know.