A British Gas customer service tweet marking the anniversary of David Bowie’s death has sparked a Twitter frenzy.
British Gas used the hashtag and mention of Bowie to precede a message offering help and assistance to customers, prompting criticism and a number of jokes.
The tweet, shown below, has been branded as tacky, with some social media users also mocking the bad spelling and grammar.
The rockstar died on January 10 2016, and today thousands took to Twitter to pay tribute to the singer, with numerous hashtags trending including ‘bowieforever’ and ‘ripDB’.
Other organisations also commemorated the death of the rock star, with much more success:
David Bowie died a year ago today. Back in 1999 he made this incredible prediction about how the internet would change our lives forever pic.twitter.com/ITF9Wv6jlC
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) January 10, 2017
One year without David Bowie pic.twitter.com/cG0rgAUnSU
— NME (@NME) January 10, 2017
One user called it a ‘brazen attempt to hijack a hashtag’ running on the first anniversary of the singer’s death. Another said that the tweet was in ‘really bad taste’, adding ‘I’m shocked a business account has written that Another said that the tweet was in ‘really bad taste’, adding ‘I’m shocked a business account has written that.
Here’s a collection of responses to the tweet:
Morning all. A year today we lost a pop icon David Bowie, time flys don't it? We're here till 10pm if you need anything. Thanks, Paul #RipDB
— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017
@BritishGasHelp A really brazen attempt to hijack a Hashtag that has nothing to do with your business. Paul – you should be ashamed
— GrumpyMcGrumpface (@grumpyoldchris) January 10, 2017
Whilst ‘Paul’ sent the original tweet, other people manning the account appear to be confused by the furore.
@Waldmeisterei Hi Kat, we have a couple & this one is for customers who need our help & advice. Cheers, Claire
— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017
@tedreally Hi Ted, this is a bit worrying! I'm sorry if we've offended. Please can you DM details of what your post is about? Thanks, Janina
— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017
Eventually the orignal customer service worker replied to the criticism, explaining he meant no offence.
Hey, David Bowie meant so much to me. I didn't mean to offend anyone & I only wanted to pay tribute to a master songwriter & true icon ^Paul
— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017
View the original tweet below:
Morning all. A year today we lost a pop icon David Bowie, time flys don't it? We're here till 10pm if you need anything. Thanks, Paul #RipDB
— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017