While having a social media post go viral is generally a desired outcome, it can have some unintended consequences, as the Ritz-Carlton Montreal found out this weekend.
In an Instagram post, the luxury hotel promised to donate one toy to kids at the CHU Sainte-Justine Hospital for every share.
The post, featuring a video for the hospital’s Tree of Lights initiative, quickly went viral, garnering one million shares according to Ritz-Carlton Montreal spokesperson Katia Piccolino.
It was later edited, at the request of the Fondation CHU Sainte Justine and the “one share, one toy promise” was removed and replaced by the following:
“The Ritz-Carlton Montreal in collaboration with Décarie Motors and the Vo-Dignard Provost Group #challengevp , will be delivering toys December 20th for the children of the Fondation CHU Sainte Justine , who are spending their holidays alone , away from their family & home, in treatment in hospital.”
The move drew backlash, with some social media users criticizing the hotel for using sick children in an apparent marketing campaign.
Piccolino, however, said the Instagram post was not ill-intentioned.
“Never would we exploit or use a relationship,” she said. “When I saw how crazy it went, my first reaction was, ‘Oh my God, they’re going to get so many people going to their site.’ It was never towards us. We never had a call to action, which you have to follow the Ritz or whatever.”
Piccolino said the hotel has a longstanding partnership with the Fondation CHU Sainte-Justine and has raised over $100,000 for foundation since 2012 through various initiatives, including a donor check-in program where every time someone checks in they can donate to the hospital.
Piccolino said another program allows for families to stay at the hotel when their children are undergoing treatment at Sainte-Justine.
And finally, every Christmas the Ritz-Carlton hosts a party at the hotel for some of the children and Santa is always on hand to deliver gifts. But with COVID-19 restrictions, Piccolino said it wasn’t an option.
“I didn’t want to let this year go without giving the kids any toys,” she said.
Piccolino added that while the foundation knew the Ritz-Carlton was planning on donating toys, they were not aware of the Instagram campaign.
“This type of offensive must be thought out and planned upstream and in collaboration, in order to meet the needs of the CHU Sainte-Justine and to honor our other partnerships, which in this case are Rythme FM, Metro, Mega Bloks, the Blue Cross, altona Diagnostics, Habitations Atlas, Cogeco and Videotron,” said Delphine Brodeur, a spokesperson for the foundation.
With retrospect, Piccolino says she wishes the original Instagram post had been worded differently.
She also admitted putting a cap on the number of shares would have been a good idea.
Bruno Delorme from the Desautels Faculty of Management School of Continuing Studies agreed, saying a social media campaign is no different from a marketing campaign.
“You have to create a plan, you have to set your goals and limits,” he said, adding you also need a contingency plan based on a “what if scenario.”
Piccolino, however, says while people may be upset that the Ritz-Carlton can’t give out one million toys, there is a silver lining.
“A million people got to see the video and potentially could donate to the Sainte-Justine,” she said.
For its part, the foundation says its mission remains to mobilize the community to financially support the hospital in its mission of excellence.
The foundation, however, did express gratitude.
“We are of course very touched by this wave of solidarity and love that has taken hold of Instagram. We thank the community for responding so enthusiastically,” said Brodeur, adding there was still time to give to the Tree of Lights campaign.
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