30. Inside the PBR "Eating Ass" Tweetstorm, with Adweek Editor David Griner and Kyle Brown

On January 3, Pabst Blue Ribbon lit the internet on fire with one obscene tweet: “Not drinking this January? Try eating ass.” The uproar was swift and loud. And PBR deleted the tweets and apologized publicly, even as some writers blamed a “rogue employee” for the tweets. That was NOT the case. The offending Tweeter was actually an established social media manager by the name of Corey Smale, a creative enigma whose free-wheeling, hands-on approach had really resonated with the brand’s fans. So what went wrong for PBR? What safeguards did they have in place? Who’s REALLY to blame for the ass-eating Twitter incident, and what can we learn from it? On this episode, we pick through the wreckage with Kyle Brown, our go-to beer marketing correspondent, and with David Griner, Adweek’s International editor, who scored an exclusive interview with former PBR social media manager Corey Smale. Plus, we examine an interview that Corey gave on the In Defense of Ska Podcast—mere weeks before his dismissal—to learn more about the process that had been established for running PBR's social media. *Please note, this episode is NOT SAFE FOR WORK* While you're here: Leave us a message on the Lead Balloon Comms Gripe Line Sign up for the Podcamp Media e-newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices