Hashtags have become a popular way of tracking the interests of groups of people. Twitter has supported clickable hashtags for quite some time now, and Facebook began supporting them last year. The clickable hastags allow users to click on them and see what other users have said about the same topic. Advertisers jumped on this and began using it to build brand awareness, host contests, and receive feedback from consumers.

McDonalds’ Fail

McDonalds hashtag campaign on Twitter is perhaps the most notable of all failed advertising campaigns. In January of 2012, McDonalds posted a tweet offering consumers the chance to learn more about the employees of the world’s largest burger chain. The tweet was tagged with #McDStories, and McDonalds created what appeared to be a good thing.

However, consumers quickly jumped on the hashtag bandwagon and began posting about their horrible experiences at the restaurant’s locations around the U.S. Many of the stories were, perhaps, exaggerated, but the damage was done and McDonalds cost itself a lot of public humiliation. The company also lost income due to the failed campaign.

JP Morgan Takes On Twitter

JPMorgan may very well have joined McDonalds in the realm of failed hashtag campaigns. The bank posted a tweet last week with the hashtag #AskJPM, offering consumers the chance to take part in a Twitter based question and answer session with Jimmy Lee, an executive at the mammoth financial institution.

The problem is that very few questions appeared on the micro-blogging site until yesterday afternoon, when the replies began flooding in. While you might think that replies to the campaign are a good thing, think again. Many of the replies poked fun at the idea of a bank attempting to use social media to lure consumers to itself. Others used the campaign to publicly ask questions about the bank’s recent financial mishaps and legal woes. Still others took the opportunity to hurl insults at the bank’s executive.

Michael Casey, a Twitter user who identified himself as a columnist and editor, posted a tweet that is perhaps the closest to the truth of any other response.

Reading the #AskJPM Twitter feed makes it seem JPM put a “kick me” sticker on its back when it rolled out that hashtag.

— Michael Casey (@mikejcasey) November 13, 2013

JPMorgan Withdraws Invitation

JPMorgan posted a tweet yesterday withdrawing its invitation for client to participate in a Q&A, calling it a bad idea. The hashtag campaign proved to be a big black eye for the bank, rather than a candy store that was giving away free lollipops. Maybe the bank should go back to what banks do best… giving DumDums to children.

Tomorrow’s Q&A is cancelled. Bad Idea. Back to the drawing board.

— J.P. Morgan (@jpmorgan) November 14, 2013