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British Gas David Bowie RIP Tribute Is Contender For Worst Tweet Of 2017

'You know this is visible to the public?'
Chris York
By 

Senior Editor, HuffPost UK

Tuesday marks one year to the day since the death of the legendary David Bowie.

Suitable tributes flooded the internet like this example from BBC Newsnight.

David Bowie died a year ago today. Back in 1999 he made this incredible prediction about how the internet would change our lives forever pic.twitter.com/ITF9Wv6jlC

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) January 10, 2017

And this lovely animation from NME.

One year without David Bowie pic.twitter.com/cG0rgAUnSU

— NME (@NME) January 10, 2017

Then British Gas inexplicably got involved.

Morning all. A year today we lost a pop icon David Bowie, time flys don't it? We're here till 10pm if you need anything. Thanks, Paul #RipDB

— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017

OK...

@BritishGasHelp Paul; turn your autocorrect on, mate. And try to not be so blasé about something people truly care about.

— ire 🌊 (@irepad) January 10, 2017

Let’s count the wrongs.

1/2) It’s ‘flies’ not ‘flys’ and ‘doesn’t’ not ‘don’t’.

@BritishGasHelp "time flys don't it" My God. "Time flies, doesn't it" is what you were looking for. You know this is visible to the public?

— Brian Keen (@thebriankeen) January 10, 2017

3) The hashtag is wrong.

Most people are using #DavidBowie, #Bowieforever or something similar but #RipDB appears to be mainly associated with a “Darius” last year.

Twitter

4) It’s hardly appropriate.

@BritishGasHelp A really brazen attempt to hijack a Hashtag that has nothing to do with your business. Paul - you should be ashamed

— GrumpyMcGrumpface (@grumpyoldchris) January 10, 2017

5) It’s not your typical use of corporate Twitter.

@BritishGasHelp this is a cracking example of how not to do social media.

— Tinfoil Pants (@notquitededd) January 10, 2017

Whilst ‘Paul’ sent the original tweet, other people manning the account appear to be confused by the furore.

@BritishGasHelp Errrrrrrrrrr, really? Use your private account!

— Kat (@Waldmeisterei) January 10, 2017

@Waldmeisterei Hi Kat, we have a couple & this one is for customers who need our help & advice. Cheers, Claire

— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017

@BritishGasHelp
", time flys don't it"
That's really bad taste. I'm shocked a business account has written that.

— Ted (@tedreally) January 10, 2017

@tedreally Hi Ted, this is a bit worrying! I'm sorry if we've offended. Please can you DM details of what your post is about? Thanks, Janina

— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017

Eventually poor Paul chipped in again to explain the tweet.

Hey, David Bowie meant so much to me. I didn't mean to offend anyone & I only wanted to pay tribute to a master songwriter & true icon ^Paul

— British Gas Help (@BritishGasHelp) January 10, 2017

British Gas has been contacted for comment.

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