The recent United Airlines fiasco is an example of the power of memes to sway public opinion and get results.  When a Kentucky doctor  was dragged off a United Airlines flight, his home town paper Louisville Courier-Journal had the headline: “Passenger removed from United flight has troubled past.” It was a cliche that deserved to become its own meme. Days later, when a scorpion was found on a different United flight, Twitter asked about its “troubled past” and on Good Friday, pictures of Jesus circulated commenting on his “troubled past”. Various news outlets have responded with their best memes, e.g.

KSAT.com responded with Funniest memes in response to United Airlines debacle, including a Jimmy Kimmel clip.

rollingout.com responded with Twitter on fire after brutal #UnitedAirlines abuse of passenger.

The Huffington Post also responded with This Meme Sums Up The Absurdity Of April Perfectly

However, the most effective and successful individual effort dates  back to 2009:

*_DISGRUNTLED PASSENGER’S REVENGE_**__**__*
*A Canadian musician from Halifax named Dave Carroll recently had
difficulty with United Airlines.*

*Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United  to pay for damages
caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar.*

*During his final exchange with the United  Customer Relations
Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other  than to
create a music video for YouTube exposing their lack of cooperation.*

*The Manager responded: “Good luck with that one, pal.”*

*So he posted a retaliatory video on YouTube. The video has since
received over **6 million hits.*

*United Airlines contacted the  musician and attempted settlement in
exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was: “Good
luck with that one,  pal.”*

*Taylor**Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in
appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has led
to a sharp increase in orders.*

*Here’s the video:*

<http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=5YGc4zOqozo>http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=5YGc4zOqozo

 

See the full story at http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/songwriting/united-breaks-guitars/

Do you have a favourite meme you would like to add to this blog? If so, send to tedsmillie@yahoo.com

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