Just hours after the horrifying massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT this morning, Kmart released this tweet:
Not exactly the most appropriate time to stick in a promo plug, and outraged people let Kmart know that it wasn't acceptable.
Reactions:
Tasteless: @kmart tweets about school shooting tragedy using self-promotional hashtag. bit.ly/UYiNdg
— Styleite (@Styleite) December 14, 2012
Tis the season to.... shop anwhere except @kmart (check the hashtags kids) twitter.com/JessicaGottlie…
— Jessica Gottlieb (@JessicaGottlieb) December 14, 2012
Garbage. RT @thebrandbuilder: . @ryanschade An example of heinous social marketing behavior from Kmart on.fb.me/U0RvmA ht: @cbarger
— Mark Van Baale (@markvanbaale) December 14, 2012
Kmart has since removed the hashtag #Fab15Toys and apologized.
Attention all: We have decided to halt the remainder of today's Twitter party due to the events in Connecticut.#Fab15Toys
— Kmart (@Kmart) December 14, 2012
In light of today's tragic events we have ended the Fab 15 Toy chat and we discourage any further use of the tag. Please pray for #Newtown.
— Kmart (@Kmart) December 14, 2012
Kmart sent us this statement explaining what happened:
"We wanted the participants in the Twitter party we had just halted to see our message of sympathy. The way you do that is by adding the hashtag for the Twitter party. It was absolutely not used for any promotional reasons, but simply to ensure the participants of the Twitter party were able to see our message of sympathy."
SEE ALSO: 13 Epic Twitter Fails By Big Brands >