Last Updated on January 15, 2018
Sometimes, a brand’s enthusiasm to be part of a conversation comes back to bite them. That’s what happened to the Golf Channel when it tried to be part of the ‘Dream Day’ celebration.
The Golf Channel issued an apology on Twitter hours over a tweet it surely meant as an innocent tie-in to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.
It was during the march, of course, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., issued his famous “I Have a Dream”  speech.
As part of the celebration of “Dream Day,” people were encouraged by various sources to post their dreams for the future across social media. What those encouragements seemed to have in common was the focus on the future of America, from race relations to broader, more universal themes for the direction of the country.
Unfortunately, Golf Channel tried to be part of that conversation by making things a bit too narrow:
Tweet your ‘golf’ dream on the 50th anniversary of MLK’s ‘I have a Dream’ speech using:
#DreamDay: I have a dream that __________.”
A golf dream? I suppose they were looking for responses like, “I’ll play Augusta National with Tiger Woods” or “I’ll finally get that hole in one…with lots of witnesses.” But given the solemn nature of the occasion, and even if you assume they were joking, one has to wonder how they thought this was a good idea.
Huffington Post’s Media channel found a great response:
I have a dream that I didn't read this tweet: https://t.co/mZInKs5TlL
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) August 28, 2013
To the network’s credit, at least, it did remove the tweet hours later and issue this one instead:
Our earlier tweet was inappropriate. The intent was to celebrate this important date in history & we regret we failed to meet that standard.
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) August 28, 2013
Given the popularity of the sport among the black community, thanks, in part, to the success of Tiger Woods but not exclusively because of him, one might think that someone at Golf Channel might have seen the danger of trying to post such a tweet because of how it could have been read. At least they recognized their mistake after the fact.
That’s more than some ever do.
There’s nothing wrong with trying to be part of a conversation, but you have to consider not only how you and your brand can be part of it, but how you and your brand can be part of it to celebrate the event appropriately.
