#YourMum From Penguin Books Is Either An Accident Or Painfully Obvious Marketing

Penguin Asked People To Tweet At Them With #YourMum And Everything Went Wrong
Businessman on phone at desk in office with hand on forehead
Businessman on phone at desk in office with hand on forehead
Thomas Barwick via Getty Images

Social media is such a turbulent and fluid platform, sometimes marketers need to think outside the box.

The folks at Penguin Books did what many others in the industry do and asked their followers to engage with a hashtag. But the hashtag they chose was a bit... strange.

In light of Mother's Day, they offered people free gift advice if they tweeted at them with #YourMum.

And they seemed absolutely clueless about the hashtag's second meaning.

Naturally, Twitter started to do what it does best.

But it didn't take long for a lot of people to realise that it could be a very clever trick to get a hashtag to "accidentally" go wrong and start trending, giving their brand more exposure.

Very crafty, Penguin.

And then they "realised"...

Hmm... Sure...

#Starbucksfail

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