SYDNEY - Australia's Qantas has shut down a
parody public relations account for the airline on social media site Twitter,
saying Tuesday it was "causing confusion" for customers.
The account, @QantasPR, was started following
the carrier's dramatic 48-hour grounding of its worldwide fleet last October
over an industrial dispute with its staff, which prompted an angry backlash
from customers.
Using the distinctive red and white
"Flying Kangaroo" icon as its profile image, the account lampooned
the airline and was followed by thousands of the microblogging site's members.
It has been officially suspended by Twitter
and Qantas confirmed it was behind the shutdown.
"Qantas reported @QantasPR for breaching
the Twitter terms of use and causing confusion. As a result, the @QantasPR
username has been removed," a Qantas spokeswoman told AFP.
Cricket legend Shane Warne was among the spoof
account's victims, directing a tirade of abuse at @QantasPR after the airline
lost his luggage on January 22.
"I thought you were meant to look after
Australians, not be sarcastic. You too often are late, cancel flights and lose
luggage," Warne tweeted.
Despite describing itself as "the
non-official official broadcast channel for Australia's national airline",
@QantasPR did not specify clearly enough that it was a parody account not
affiliated with the carrier, Qantas said.
Twitter users criticised Qantas for the move,
with one wag sarcastically thanking the airline because he was "genuinely
unable to differentiate between your company and a joke".
Others claimed it was a cynical move ahead of
the release of Qantas's half-year results on Thursday, with speculation it is
poised to announce job cuts.
A new account, @QantasPRPR soon sprang up,
calling itself the "unofficial official Twitter account of the now defunct
@QantasPR" and calling for the ban of "plane-sized Coke cans"
and flights into the southern city of Adelaide.
But another group, @Qantas-PR, later contacted
AFP to insist it was behind the original account, also providing a copy of its
letter of protest to Twitter.
"We have many @replies from users
acknowledging it is a parody account and at no time do we believe that we
intentionally deceived users that it was an official account," the letter
said.
"We would like to request to you, oh
powerful Twitter, to reinstate the account under your parody policy and we will
put 'fake' in its name to show our good faith in not wanting to hurt Qantas'
feelings."
It is not the first time Qantas has hit
turbulence on Twitter - it was ridiculed for running a contest about the
ultimate "luxury experience" just weeks after the grounding amid its
dispute over staff pay and conditions.
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment