Chip Brand's Automated Twitter Promotion Spirals Out Of Control

Fancy a crisp? How about a bag of Walkers, the Frito-Lay-owned brand that broadcasted videos of Gary Lineker holding framed portraits of serial killers and convicted pedophiles? Who’s hungry?

Walkers ran a promo this morning on Twitter promising fans Champions League tickets if they submitted a selfie, which would then be placed in a frame for Lineker to hold while he talked about brand synergy or something. The company got more than they bargained for with the automated campaign. They’ve deleted most of the tweets, but they live on in infamy thanks to the internet’s voracious appetite for clowning the ham-handedness of brands interacting with people online.

Here’s serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper:

Fred West, another serial killer, enjoys the big match:

Rolf Harris, a singer convicted of 12 counts of indecent assault, also loves crisps!

Sexual abuser Jimmy Savile:

Chris Benoit:

Serial killer Harold Shipman:

It appears that the #WalkersWave has crested. Unless brands want to fall ass-backwards into tweeting out a jersey with @ILOVEISIS, automated promotions are a bad idea.