Jokes for April Fools’ Day are common in a brand.
However, the example that occurred this year in Argentina should serve as a warning for those community managers who decide on marketing strategies for the next December 28.
Let’s start at the end: everything went very wrong.
The disaster began on the morning of Innocents’ Day, when the brand of alfajores from Argentina Havanna (one of the most important in the industry) published in Twitter a very attractive promotion: “For those who asked for it! If you did not receive a Christmas box at work, leave us your CUIL and we will send you a Havanna box ”, said the tweet, without further details.
Unsurprisingly, the post was flooded with messages.
The CUIL in Argentina is the Unique Labor Identification Code.
A couple of hours later, the Havanna Community Manager made a new post to warn that it had been a joke: “Happy April Fool’s Day!”, The brand published. “Now seriously, among those who participated, we are going to raffle five boxes!”
That is to say, it was not a box for each one, but five to raffle among thousands.
The “joke” did not go down well with the followers of the brand: during the following hours, messages with complaints and strong criticisms of the company multiplied.
Among them, that of several consumers who reported that, according to the provisions of Law 24,240 on Consumer Defense, the brand must now comply with what was promised.
“I gave them the address for them to send me my gift privately, since it is fucking what they wanted to do is against law 24240,” wrote one.
“My CUIL is 20-28300, contact us for the rest of the number because if they do not we will collectively sue them for misleading advertising since April Fool’s Day does not appear to defend themselves from the legal point of view, thank you,” another posted.
“Havanna’s mistake is the lack of empathy with the Argentine context. Teasing or humiliating customers doesn’t make much sense, ”said another.
A user transcribed article 8 of the law on Twitter. “Effects of advertising: the details made in advertising or in advertisements, prospectuses, circulars or other means of dissemination are considered included in the contract with the consumer and are binding on the offeror.”
For those who asked! If you did not receive a Christmas box at work, leave us your CUIL and we will send you a Havanna Box. pic.twitter.com/cj1RMFiR7D
– Havanna Argentina (@Havanna_arg) December 28, 2021
How the brand solved the April Fool’s Day problem
Hours later, Havanna made a public apology. “Always in people’s lives and in companies’ lives, mistakes must be accepted in order to learn from them,” the company said in a statement on Twitter.
And he added: “We want to apologize, without extenuating circumstances, to all our followers and consumers for a raffle that was badly planned. There is no other excuse or explanation ”.
“For this reason, we want to inform all those who have sent us their CUIL as the tweet said, both publicly and privately, before our notice that it was a post about the Day of the Innocents, that is to say between 9:54 and 12:21 on December 28, we will send you a box with Havanna products just as the original post said ”, the company continued.
And he concluded: “Once the count that we are doing is finished, we will make a thread with all the followers who will receive the box, with whom we will make contact to send them the products. Once again, we want to express our sincere apologies to everyone. “
So far the cost of the joke of the Havanna brand community manager for April Fools’ Day is not known. Likewise, the apology and delivery of what was promised could make Havanna recoup part of that expense in a better image.
– Havanna Argentina (@Havanna_arg) December 28, 2021