The Cinnebon chain tweeted a tribute to Carrie Fisher, reading “RIP Carrie Fisher, you’ll always have the best buns in the galaxy” – with a photo of Princess Leia done in cinnamon and sugar with the company’s cinnamon buns in place of the her trademark hairstyle.
Fisher, of course, was the first to compare her Star Wars hairstyle to the sticky treat, but does that make it OK?
Twitter was all up in arms, of course.
@Cinnabon wtf pic.twitter.com/jQ1nQQ4Ror
— Victoria 🦊 (@nicholaswlde) December 27, 2016
I bet that social media intern at Cinnabon feels pretty good about him/herself right about now
— Slegr💣 (@slegrbombs71) December 27, 2016
You could say that tweet got Cinnabon into a…sticky situation pic.twitter.com/a9hBvDMKbW
— David Rudin (@DavidSRudin) December 27, 2016
@Cinnabon pic.twitter.com/cwCFFPIdld
— Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) December 27, 2016
.@Cinnabon pic.twitter.com/KJUjhRD0PJ
— Jamie (@jlew8) December 27, 2016
.@cinnabon what the hell pic.twitter.com/uhgDPg2Agc
— dan mentos (@DanMentos) December 27, 2016
*Cinnabon HQ upon hearing the news of Carrie Fisher’s heart attack*
“GET STARTED ON THE PRINCESS LEIA CINNABON MURAL… PRONTO!” https://t.co/ChlCoi8eDh— Dick Prescock (@DadSelfie) December 27, 2016
Cinnamon has since apologized.
Our deleted tweet was genuinely meant as a tribute, but we shouldn’t have posted it. We are truly sorry.
— Cinnabon (@Cinnabon) December 28, 2016
Last April, General Mills went through something similar when sent they out a tweet after Prince’s death, featuring the words “Rest in Peace” against a purple backdrop. In place of the dot over the “i” was a single Cheerio.
New York-based crisis management expert Jessa Moore told HuffPost at the time that there is really no good way for a corporate brand to honor a celebrity’s death.
“It’s insensitive,” Moore said. “It’s like they’re saying, ‘We’re going to capitalize on [a celebrity] death so we show up in a search algorithm.’”
