Brand Reputation: A Fumble on Twitter?

Screen capture of the team's Twitter account (@redskins)

Sending holiday greetings to your audience is usually a sound brand marketing technique. Yet the "Redskins" (an American football team based in Washington DC) generated a lot of bad buzz yesterday when they published a tweet wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to their fans from their official account. We thought this would be a great opportunity to analyze the buzz using Talkwalker’s powerful social media analytics tool.

A Controversial Brand Name

For those not familiar with the issue, the term “Redskins” is considered a derogatory reference to Native Americans, and several organizations have asked the football team to change its name. Thanksgiving is generally accepted as the celebration of pilgrims and Native Americans putting aside their differences to share a meal, and as such, this holiday greeting was perceived by some as culturally insensitive.

Fan commenting on Redskins account

Screen capture of some of the comments on the original Redskins tweet

Yesterday, despite the fact that most American families were busy carving the turkey, many still decided to go online to add to the discussion. In

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