E-commerce & DTC on Reddit

EA's 'sense of pride' comment becomes Reddit's most downvoted ever

EA's official account defended the harsh in-game unlock costs and loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront II by saying they gave players "a sense of pride and accomplishment." The tone-deaf reply was downvoted to roughly -667,000, making it the most downvoted comment in Reddit history, and fed a backlash that drew regulatory scrutiny of loot boxes and forced EA to drastically cut unlock costs within days.

Woody Harrelson's promo AMA collapses after he dodges every question

Harrelson did an AMA to promote his film Rampart but appeared not to understand the format, repeatedly ignoring users' questions and instead posting a canned plug for the movie and unrelated links. Users accused him of not actually reading the thread, and outlets like Forbes and Observer covered it as an object lesson in promotional AMAs done wrong.

PR rep's abusive emails to a customer go viral and sink his agency

Ocean Marketing's Paul Christoforo responded to a customer's shipping question about the Avenger controller adapter with an escalating series of rude, threatening emails, which the customer posted to Penny Arcade and Reddit. The thread went viral, Christoforo was mocked site-wide, and the manufacturer he represented publicly cut ties with his agency within days.

Samsung fined for paying people to post fake anti-HTC comments online

Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission found that Samsung Taiwan had hired writers and students to anonymously post disparaging comments about rival HTC's phones and glowing comments about Samsung's on public forums. Samsung was fined roughly $340,000 for the astroturfing campaign, one of the largest confirmed cases of a major brand faking online sentiment.

Applebee's fires waitress over viral no-tip receipt, gets the backlash itself

A photo of a pastor's receipt reading "I give God 10%, why do you get 18%" in lieu of a tip went viral after being posted online, and Applebee's fired the waitress who leaked it, citing a customer-privacy violation. The firing itself became the bigger story, drawing widespread public criticism and calls for boycotts.

Bill Gates' 2019 AMA becomes Reddit's most upvoted of the year

Bill Gates hosted a wide-ranging AMA answering questions on climate change, philanthropy, and personal habits with candid, substantive answers rather than PR-safe deflections. Reddit's own year-end data named it the most upvoted AMA of 2019, and outlets like CNET and CNBC covered the specific answers that resonated with users.