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An Analysis of Kenneth Coles Viral #Cairo Tweet

By Rebecca Brown On February 3rd 2011, as protesters threatened to evict Egyptian President Mubarak, causing great internal unrest, fashion designer Kenneth Cole, who has long been known for pushing the envelope with controversial advertising took it one tweet too far. He posted Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo - KC. Instantly thousands of people criticized this move.

Background
Kenneth Cole began his career in fashion in the early 1980s by designing shoes. He quickly branched out to womans wear and mens wear 1. In 1985 Cole began what would morph into his characteristic advertising always pushing the envelope. He promoted his shoes through an AIDS awareness campaign in a time when this was a highly debated issue 2. In the 1990s as Coles fashion line gained popularity he branched his advertising out by creating controversial, often political, billboards, especially in election years.
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Kenneth Cole, Ask Men, 2013,

http://www.askmen.com/celebs/men/business_politics_60/74_kenneth_cole.html#ixzz2LHEm5iAG.
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Kenneth Cole Productions A Company with Heart and Sole, Fashion Fights AIDS, 2013,

http://www.fashionfightsaids.org/supporting-organisations-kenneth-cole.htm

An Instragram picture of a billboard from 1992, poking fun at Vice President Dan Quayle, after Quayle misspelled potato.

This is the billboard Cole says would have run if John Mccain had won the 2008 election.

Throughout his career Cole has been known for his desire to spread social consciousness. Awearness, The Kenneth Cole Foundation, was founded in 2001, and has

donated to causes including homelessness, gun control, domestic violence, capital punishment and reproductive rights 3. According to CelebrityNetworth.com, Coles networth is $100 million 4, and Askmen.com reports that Coles company is worth over $1 billion with 80 stores and outlets across the country, 4,500 shops carrying his line, a catalog, and an online boutique. 5

The Incident
Early in the morning of February 3rd 2011, one week after a revolution began in Egypt, Kenneth Cole took advantage of the trending topic #Cario to advertise his Spring fashion collection.

A screen capture of Kenneth Coles original tweet.

Kenneth Cole. Awearness: Change We Can All Participate In, The Huffington Post, December 3, 2008,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenneth-cole/awearness-change-we-can-a_b_148004.html
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Brian Warner. Kenneth Cole Net Worth, Celebrity Net Worth, 2013,

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/richest-designers/kenneth-cole-net-worth/.
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Kenneth Cole.

During the previous week eight individuals died, and hundreds more were injured in fights between the government and protestors 6. The Cario hashtag was being used by individuals in Egypt, and throughout the world, to give and receive news about the ongoing revolution, and many were instantly outraged that Cole would take advantage of this situation for advertising purposes.

Coles Response
Within a few hours Cole deleted the original tweet and issued a public apology on Twitter.

A screen cap of Coles apology tweet.

Later in the day he also posted on Facebook (which has since been removed):

The CNN Wire Staff. Mass protests planned for Friday as Mubarak holds on, CNN World, February 3,

2011, http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/03/egypt.protests/index.html?hpt=T1.

I apologize to everyone who was offended by my insensitive tweet about the situation in Egypt. I've dedicated my life to raising awareness about serious social issues, and in hindsight my attempt at humor regarding a nation liberating themselves against oppression was poorly timed and absolutely inappropriate. Kenneth Cole, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer

Repercussions

In spite of Coles efforts to apologize many people were highly offended because they felt that he was taking advantage of the situation in Cairo as a trending topic to try to draw attention to his clothing line. Before Cole had a chance to apologize a parody account, @KennethColePR 7, which has since been removed, was created tweeting such things as:

Mary Phillips-Sandy. Kenneth Cole's Egypt Tweet Offends Just About Everyone on Twitter, AOL News,

February 3, 2011, http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/03/kenneth-coles-egypt-tweet-offends-just-about-everyone-ontwitte/.

#Kennethcoletweets was soon trending in may major cities in America 8 with people tweeting things like:

The 10 best and most horribly offensive fake Kenneth Cole tweets!, Happy Place, February 3, 2011

http://www.happyplace.com/8411/the-10-best-most-horribly-offensive-fake-kenneth-cole-tweets.

Although there was a great deal of backlash on the Internet there did not seem to be any negative impact on his sales. According to CNN.com shares of Kenneth Cole were up 1.8% in late-afternoon trading on that day. It also didnt seem to hurt Coles Twitter follower count either, The tweet also has boosted the number of people following the @KennethCole account by about 3,000 within just a few hours, according to a report from the Associated Press. 9 As of April 29th, 2013 @KennethCole has 20, 342 followers on Twitter.

Lessons Learned
One important lesson to be learned from Coles incident is to know who you are marketing to. Although Cole angered many people he ultimately didnt hurt his bottom line. He ended up profiting from this kind of big publicity stunt, whether it was intentional or not, by gaining a great deal of exposure through social media sites as his tweet was retweeted, and people responded to it. It was a very risky move, if intentional, and possibly alienated other clientele though. Most people have already forgotten about this incident except for those who were deeply offended by it. Cole will likely never be able to win those people back over.

Conclusion
Although Cole had to deal with much criticism from the Internet he ended up benefiting from his controversial #Cairo tweet sent out during the revolution in Egypt. A parody account was created to make fun of him, and #KennethColeTweets was trending as others criticized the popular fashion

Nathan Olivarez-Giles. Kenneth Cole apologizes for tweet using Egypt protests to promote fashion line,

Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2011, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/02/kenneth-cole-tweet-onegypt-protests-sparks-controversy-.html.

designer. By the end of the day though, Cole gained many new followers on Twitter and was able to advertise to many people he might not have been able to otherwise. Due to Coles long history of controversial advertising and a secure trust in his clientele base Cole ended up making the most of this social media disaster.

Bibliography The CNN Wire Staff. Mass protests planned for Friday as Mubarak holds on, CNN World, February 3, 2011, http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/03/egypt.protests/index.html?hpt=T1. Cole, Kenneth. Awearness: Change We Can All Participate In, The Huffington Post, December 3, 2008, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenneth-cole/awearness-change-we-can-a_b_148004.html Kenneth Cole, Ask Men, 2013, http://www.askmen.com/celebs/men/business_politics_60/74_kenneth_cole.html#ixzz2LHEm5iA G. Kenneth Cole Productions A Company with Heart and Sole, Fashion Fights AIDS, 2013, http://www.fashionfightsaids.org/supporting-organisations-kenneth-cole.htm Olivarez-Giles, Nathan. Kenneth Cole apologizes for tweet using Egypt protests to promote fashion line, Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2011, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/02/kenneth-cole-tweet-on-egypt-protestssparks-controversy-.html. Phillips-Sandy, Mary. Kenneth Cole's Egypt Tweet Offends Just About Everyone on Twitter, AOL News, February 3, 2011, http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/03/kenneth-coles-egypt-tweet-offends-justabout-everyone-on-twitte/. The 10 best and most horribly offensive fake Kenneth Cole tweets!, Happy Place, February 3, 2011 http://www.happyplace.com/8411/the-10-best-most-horribly-offensive-fake-kenneth-cole-tweets.

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Warner, Brian. Kenneth Cole Net Worth, Celebrity Net Worth, 2013, http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/richest-designers/kenneth-cole-networth/.