Comcast Cares Campaign Hits Twitter Promoting Volunteerism, Fails Spectacularly As Customers Tweet Mockery
It was with good intentions that Comcast took to Twitter to promote Comcast Cares Day, an annual event in which thousands of its employees go out and volunteer in their communities. What Comcast didn't take into account is the snarky nature of Twitter and backlash it would receive on the social network.
Comcast created its own hashtag to draw attention to its philanthropic outreach effort—#ComcastCaresDay—but instead of good vibes and high fives, it attracted a mountain of mockery. Some if it came from ticked off Comcast subscribers who were taken aback by what they viewed as obvious irony, while others simply jumped at the chance to knock the company down a peg or two. In that way, Comcast was successful in bringing people together, just not in the way it envisioned.
In honor of #ComcastCaresDay I'm also going to put everyone who calls me on hold for 20 minutes and then eventually hang up.
— Claire Zulkey (@Zulkey) April 30, 2016
Anyone could have seen this coming from a mile away, but somehow it slipped past Comcast. Either that or, ironically enough, Comcast simply did not care about the inevitable backlash. And yes it was inevitable—Comcast is one of only two firms to be voted "Worst Company in America" by Consumerist readers.
The outreach effort is undeniably a good thing Comcast is doing, but at the same time, it's the customer support horror stories that make it difficult to feel sorry for the ISP. And if not that, the company's position on data caps isn't doing it any favors.
On the bright side for Comcast, not all of the attention on Twitter was negative. And despite criticism on the business side of things, Comcast's community efforts can be considered a success. According to Comcast, over 100,000 volunteers cleaned up and improved more than 900 parks, schools, beaches, senior centers, and other community sites last year.
The outreach effort is undeniably a good thing Comcast is doing, but at the same time, it's the customer support horror stories that make it difficult to feel sorry for the ISP. And if not that, the company's position on data caps isn't doing it any favors.
On the bright side for Comcast, not all of the attention on Twitter was negative. And despite criticism on the business side of things, Comcast's community efforts can be considered a success. According to Comcast, over 100,000 volunteers cleaned up and improved more than 900 parks, schools, beaches, senior centers, and other community sites last year.
