Cliché Of The Week In Real World Application: Blessing In Disguise (Burger King’s Mess)

It's all good! (image source)

As everyone knows by now, Burger King was hacked by Anonymous several days ago in what for sure turned out to be a very bad day for the social media team at BK’s headquarters. The hacked account was switched to resemble McDonalds and tweeted out several harmful messages out to Burger King’s followers.

The account was promptly shut down, but not before Burger King received a massive bump in followers. But if you’re the type of person that likes to look for the upside of things, there were a few more benefits than just gaining more followers.

Burger King had recently been smeared by the horse meat contamination scandal sweeping Europe, and was not looking like a trustworthy or friendly company. But when it was hacked, it suddenly looked like a victim to all of social media, especially those who have had the displeasure of getting their own social media accounts hacked (it sucks). People like those who have the same misfortune as them, they empathize. Due to this, Burger King has enjoyed a huge amount of free media time but not suffered a serious blow to its brand. Quite the opposite, other companies are staging hacks to try and cash in on the Burger King buzz.

That’s a blessing in disguise.