Waitrose twitter campaign hijacked by web jokers

A twitter campaign by top-end supermarket chain Waitrose received mixed reactions this week after it asked shoppers to “finish the sentence: ‘I shop at Waitrose because …’ #WaitroseReasons”.

In a spectacular example of how social media campaigns can go wrong, rather than receive answers praising the variety and quality of the supermarket’s produce, the majority of tweeters took part to mock its high prices and top-end status.

One posted: “I shop at Waitrose because they have rotisserie swan”, while another said: “I shop at Waitrose because it makes me feel important and I absolutely detest being surrounded by poor people”.

One of the many jibes aimed at the supermarket’s high prices read: “I shop at Waitrose because I think food must automatically be better if it costs three times as much.”

However, there were some tweets which praised the supermarket, as well as a debate over whether the social media campaign had been a huge embarrassment or an absolute success for the chain, with one observer noting: “People are saying Waitrose don’t quite get Twitter because of #WaitroseReasons hashtag. I think they do. No such thing as bad publicity.”