(PCM) It seems that someone in charge of Best Buy social media accounts who thought they were being funny had a joke backfire massively after they tweeted about the podcast “Serial”.
Best Buy posted the following tweet on their official Twitter account last Thursday which read “We have everything you need. Unless you need a payphone. #Serial.”
To give a little bit of back story for those that may not be aware of the “Serial” podcast is that it is based on the actual real-life murder of 17-year old Hae Min Lee that occurred in Baltimore back in 1999.
Adnan Syed, Lee’s ex-boyfriend, was convicted of her murder which happened in a Best Buy parking lot. Allegedly, after strangling Lee to death, Syed used a payphone to call for a ride. The Best Buy payphone, and whether or not it existed is a key plot point for the series.
The penultimate episode of the “Serial” podcast also happened to be released last Thursday as well. Almost as soon as Best Buy’s tweet was posted they began receiving a ton of backlash with many accusing the company of insensitivity for using a murder case as a branding opportunity.
Best Buy released the following statement in regards to the Twitter incident saying “We posted a tweet earlier that was clearly in poor taste. We deeply apologize for the tweet about ‘Serial.’ It lacked good judgment and doesn’t reflect the values of our company. We have tweeted an apology and taken down the offensive tweet.”
“Serial” is a spin off of the incredibly popular podcast “The American Life” which boast over one million downloads per week.