It pays to be mean

Social media awards bad manners, it seems.

Few days ago a hotel and a restaurant owner Paul Stenson shamed a 22-year-old YouTuber Elle Darby who had asked if she could stay in Stenson’s Dublin based hotel for free. Darby had emailed Stenson that she “would love to feature you in my YouTube videos/dedicated Instagram stories/posts to bring traffic to your hotel and recommend others to book up in return for free accommodation.”

Just a normal business suggestion, basic modern marketing. But not for Stenson. He decided to be mean.

After the email was published, Ellen Darby made a 17 minute YouTube video about her feelings.

Now the whole incident has gone viral. All over the world bloggers and news sites have covered the story. Millions of people know about Stenson’s business. They also know that the owner seems to be an angry middle-aged man, who likes to shame young women. And surprisingly Stenson has gained a lot of new fans.

Stenson is a known troll. He has been getting lots of publicity for his hotel and restaurant by making fun of vegans and gluten-free eaters and even angered breast feeding mothers with his mean but funny social media comments.

What can we learn from this? It really pays to be mean on social media. White Moose Cafe was added to Underhood today and got great scores. With Underhood score 7,9 it went immediately to top three among 5,887 brands analysed daily on our service.

How does this make you feel?