UPDATED 2024

When we first wrote this blog post in 2015, brands were regularly messing up holiday posts. Thankfully, the situation has largely improved. But because brands are constantly searching for ways to insert themselves into trending topics and big events, they sometimes step into areas better left alone.

While national holidays such as Martin Luther King day can appear to be a great way to get some extra impressions and increase engagement, jumping on trends for based on historical and/or political issues, can potentially put your brand at risk for some serious backlash.

If you’re thinking of having your brand honor Dr. King with a social post of some kind, we’ve got some examples from previous branded content. We saw some brands do #MLKDay right, some do it wrong, and others not do anything at all (which, in this case, we see as a good thing).

Here’s a roundup of the Good, the Bad, and the Why!? We advise you use these insights to help decide how (and if) your brand should participate in the conversation on future MLK Days and holidays alike. 

The Good

Crayola

This is an old post, going way back to 2015. But it’s smart execution that strongly ties to the brand, without pushing sales or products. The brand is built around a wide array of colors so they didn’t need to push a marketing message, nor did they.

PetSmart

Another original post from this article. Simple and cute. And really, does anything convey a message of love better than dogs? Nope. And they used a less commonly known quote that fit perfectly. Again, no marketing message. Well done, PetSmart.

Patagonia

In recent years, we’ve had plenty of “brandstanding,” when brands do a social post about a topic they otherwise don’t really care about. People are sensitive to it. Patagonia went the other way with this post in 2022.

Most importantly, they actually closed all their stores for the day to allow employees time to volunteer in their own communities. It wasn’t the social post that was particularly powerful, it was the action backing up the social post that made this work. 

The Bad

ZzzQuil

This post is now over 10 years old and we’ve all learned a lot in the last decade. But this is an example worth sharing because the brand thought they could make a connection between their product (sleep) and Dr. King’s most famous speech (dream). But it didn’t hit. It came off as gratuitous and product pushing because, well, it was.

The FBI

This FBI post from 2020 didn’t do well because of the FBI’s well known past keeping an eye on Dr. King. Plus, they focus on doing what is right with their quote when it can certainly be argued that they didn’t do the right thing in regards to Dr. King.

The key lesson for your brand is this: Review your content the way someone who doesn’t like your brand would. Try to figure out if they would point out a shortcoming of your brand, because it’s much better to discover that in a meeting room than on the live social web.

Florida State Seminoles

This one was just poorly considered from the start. Taking a picture of Dr. King and altering it to appear that he’s cheering for Florida State? I can’t imagine someone thought this was a good idea and, I assume, others approved it. Tacky.

Lessons Learned

What lessons can be learned from these examples? Sometimes, not saying anything is the best thing you can do for your brand. While some brands may have a creative & authentic way to insert themselves, others are better off steering clear.

If you’re posting about a holiday, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, just to be in the conversation, but have nothing relevant to say, you’re doing more harm than good.

The holiday should be relevant to your brand. Ideally, supporting the holiday should be something your company does with more than just a social post. And finally, review it with at least one person internally who is comfortable playing “devil’s advocate” to inform you ways in which the post might not be received as you intended.

As a leading social media agency, we urge you to always think before you tweet, especially on days commemorating a civil rights pioneer. #cmgrPSA