From corporate social fails to "pink slime" scandals to Apple launching a widely hated mapping feature, 2012 was filled with epic PR disasters.
While many of the public relations nightmares were due to typical company failings, others were unique to the digital era.
All it takes is a single employee's bad tweet — like a Burger King staffer standing in a tub of lettuce — to send corporate headquarters into damage control mode.
We've collected 10 of the worst PR disasters of the year.
10. KitchenAid tweeted about Obama's dead grandma.
During one of the presidential debates, KitchenAid tweeted to its 24,000 fans that "Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’. #nbcpolitics".
KitchenAid immediately deleted the quote and tweeted an apology.
A spokesperson said that "The tasteless joke in no way represents our values at KitchenAid, and that person won't be tweeting for us anymore."
9. American Apparel exploits Hurricane Sandy.
People were outraged when American Apparel used Hurricane Sandy — a storm that killed over 100 people and initially left 8 million without power— as an excuse to sell merchandise.
The retailer were offered a 20 percent off sale if they typed "SANDYSALE" in the online checkout "in case you're bored during the storm."
American Apparel decided to ignore the PR disaster and didn't apologize.
Gap, on the other hand, also did a Sandy sale and then tweeted apologies for offending people.
8, The NRA's magazine posted an insensitive tweet after the Aurora shooting.
Hours after the nation learned about the tragic Aurora shooting that left 12 people dead at a late night showing of "The Dark Night Rises,"American Rifleman, a magazine for the NRA, tweeted: "Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?"
The tweet went up at 9:20 am EST and was taken down three hours later.
A spokesman for the NRA stated, "A single individual, unaware of events in Colorado, tweeted a comment that is being completely taken out of context."
PR lesson: be careful with pre-scheduled tweets.
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