When people who are not trained to be comedians try to be funny, disastrous results often follow.
A case study could be written on what happened when an idiotic employee of a British energy supplier tried to be funny when writing up a list of suggestions for customers to save money on heating bills in the winter months.
SSE is the company owned by OVO energy, and they are in full-on crisis mode, trying to make up for the 10 “simple and cost-effective ways to keep warm this winter” list they sent to customers.
Now keep in mind, British consumers are looking at a winter where they will pay approximately $1,075 more than usual to heat and light their homes. According to a study by Bank of America, wholesale gas prices in Europe are up over 400%, and overall electricity prices are up 300%.
With that reality as the backdrop, SSE still was tone-deaf enough to include these gems on their list of ways to stay warm.
Here we go. They suggested: eating bowls of oatmeal, doing star jumps, and the one that really ticked people off, “cuddle with pets.”
The company has since taken down the web page that listed those suggestions, and you have to give them credit for realizing how stupid they were. Here’s part of a statement they sent CNN.
“Recently, a link to a blog containing energy-saving tips was sent to customers. We understand how difficult the situation will be for many of our customers this year. We are working hard to find meaningful solutions as we approach this energy crisis, and we recognize that the content of this blog was poorly judged and unhelpful. We are embarrassed and sincerely apologize.”
To add insult to injury, a report by National Energy Action says that over 4 million households in the UK are in some sort of fuel poverty. And it will get worse when energy prices rise again in April.
How about we all agree that comedians should not run major utility companies, and moronic marketing professionals should not try so hard to be clever.
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