So the folks at Starbucks UK thought they could ask people on Twitter to use the #spreadthecheer hashtag and have their happy holiday messages displayed on a big public video screen. The people at Starbucks have apparently never used the Internet.

Otherwise they would have thought to themselves, “Considering how much we’ve been in the news in the UK for controversial tax breaks, maybe we should vet the Tweets before they go on that big screen we’ve placed at the ice rink outside the Natural History Museum in London.”

If they had simply thought that over, visitors to the museum would not have seen anti-Starbucks Tweets like “Hey #Starbucks, PAY YOUR F—ING TAX #spreadthecheer,” or “#spreadthecheer Tax Dodging MoFo’s,” or “I like buying coffee that tastes nice from a shop that pays tax. So I avoid @starbucks #spreadthecheer,” or our favorite, “Tax paid: £8.6m. Additional tax paid to improve public image: £20m. Posting live tweets to a big screen: priceless. #spreadthecheer”

We should just add this to the list of “Reasons Why Companies Should Avoid Twitter Altogether.” Of course, Starbucks Ireland is already on that list for the time it asked Irish citizens to Tweet about why they are proud to be British.

Starbucks Twitter campaign hijacked by tax protests [Telegraph via Eater.com]

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