The #YourTaxis campaign was launched on Monday at a time when the Victorian Taxi Association is considering how best to take on Uber, which, true to form, has been upsetting local cab firms in Melbourne as well as other Australian cities.
Tell your taxi story! #YourTaxis #PeopleOfMelbourne #TaxiYourWay #Melbourne pic.twitter.com/Ewsj3AeYlU
— yourtaxis (@yourtaxis) November 9, 2015
While the association’s boss, David Samuel, told the Guardian at the start of the campaign that he wanted honest feedback about its service and therefore expected criticism, the sheer volume of negative responses – some of them even alleging criminal behavior – has likely taken the association by surprise. Among the many negative tweets claiming to describe personal experiences…
Cab rear ended another car, kept meter running while exchanging details for 20 mins, demanded I pay total amount, I hurt my neck #YourTaxis — Hantai (@supsuphannah) November 9, 2015
#YourTaxis the time I got in a cab and the driver drove for 10 mins, pulled into an alleyway and asked if I was “a party girl”.
— Alice R Fraser (@aliterative) November 10, 2015
…are links to news stories showing Australian taxi drivers in a less than flattering light.
.@yourtaxis #yourtaxis dragged close mate down the street with his watch caught in the door & could have killed him https://t.co/KsTqe4Aw3U — Chris Edwards 郝丘 (@chrisedwards_au) November 10, 2015
Sadly for the association, positive responses are few and far between. Looking through the hundreds tweeted in the last hour alone, we did manage to find one:
At airport I left my bag in a taxi – when he noticed, driver drove all the way back to me and refused my offer of payment #YourTaxis — Marina Hurley (@writingclearsci) November 10, 2015
Despite the social media mauling – and in response to it – the association issued a press release on Tuesday bravely claiming that its campaign was going to plan.
“The outpouring of feedback on social media is being reported as a social media fail of epic proportions – not from our perspective,” the release said, adding, “Social media is designed to offer the opportunity to engage directly with the community. YourTaxis has delivered exactly this.”
In the same release, CEO Samuel said, “This was never about selling something, this is about starting a direct conversation with everyone who uses Victorian taxis and giving them an opportunity to tell us what they think. This is what we have achieved.”
He went on, “The response online over the past 24 hours isn’t anything we didn’t expect. We asked for feedback and we got it. The good and the bad and everything in between.” Truth is, however, the responses have been rarely good, overwhelmingly bad, with virtually nothing in between. And they’re still pouring in.
This isn’t the first time – and won’t be the last – that an organization’s Twitter campaign has come off the rails. The NYPD, McDonald’s, UK supermarket chain Waitrose, and Australia’s national carrier, Qantas, to name but a few, have all seen efforts to embrace social media end in disaster.
