Axe may have been operating under this set of assumptions when it used content from Reddit in its Shower Thoughts campaign.

Axe, like many brands and celebrities before it, forgot that Reddit is just as capable of uniting around strong opinions as it is spreading diverse content. Reddit isn’t just a content source, it’s a community with a set of shared views. For example, the Reddit community has an Atheist and contrarian bent; Redditors generally distrust Mother Teresa and frequently upvote posts maligning the saint to the front page.

When the Axe used an /r/showerthoughts submission in an ad campaign, what did Redditors do to the brand?

Reddit 101

The front page of Reddit is the top 25 pieces of content in an unlimited list of links submitted or created by users of the site. This default list loads for any visitors who haven’t customized the Reddit content they see; it’s made up of content from default subreddits chosen by the Reddit team and then upvoted (liked) by the most users. These subreddits are forums based around specific topics, from /r/twoxchromosomes (for feminism and women’s issues) to /r/news.

/r/showerthoughts is a default subreddit in which Redditors submit profound (or not so profound) thoughts they’ve had while showering. Posts from /r/showerthoughts frequently attract enough upvotes to make it to the front page, where they’re seen by millions. On August 30, 2015, user JaSfields’ submitted a text post to /r/showerthoughts: “When you’re criticised for being short, they’re really just saying the worst thing about you is that there isn’t more of you.” The post went viral on the site.

Free Creative!

Defy Media and Mindshare Entertainment, Axe’s agencies, used /r/showerthoughts in a spring ad campaign called Shower Thoughts. The first video, uploaded to YouTube on March 24, 2016, caught the attention of Redditors quickly. The title of the subreddit and JaSfield’s popular post were used word for word in the ad.

Borrowing content from various sources on the Internet is common: Reddit took issue with the lack of sourcing. No credit was given and no compensation paid.

Axe did not anticipate that the sprawling grassroots forum could react as one unified community. As with many other brands who have experienced a Reddit crisis, the community’s ability to come together and exact revenge was a surprise.

Reddit Revenge

Reddit, eager to avenge the uncredited source, generated thousands of pieces of content that pilloried Axe — posts, links to news sources (about the posts), and comments. Much of this content climbed Reddit’s aggregated list of links toward the front page, attracting thousands of upvotes (and impressions).

Redditors also stormed YouTube: Episode 1, containing JaSField’s quote, has 666 upvotes and 18,876 downvotes. In Reddit’s trademark satirical style, the comments on the video quickly became a self-mocking collection of barbs aimed at both Axe and Reddit’s neckbeardism (neckbeardity?).

Reddit has its own culture: shared ideals and narratives that sorts submitted content, assigning value. Reddit can be a double-edged sword if you don’t understand the site as a community as well as a content source. Axe ran afoul of Reddit’s sourcing values (open source, but original creators credited) and fell into two of Reddit’s favourite narratives. First, the wronged man, in which JaSfields was not given adequate credit for his work. Though the site often recycles content, the official policy (and value) on Reddit is to punish users who reuse content that isn’t theirs. Had Axe had checked the submission page on /r/ShowerThoughts before using content from the subreddit, this shared value would have been glaringly obvious.

The second narrative is that of the underdog: Axe filling the role of a giant, evil, corporate Goliath against Reddit’s David. But in battles like these, Reddit never loses.

The campaign turned into a crisis for the brand on YouTube as damage to Axe and benefits for its competitors were delivered immediately by angry Redditors. In the words of one YouTube commenter, thefinalcountdown650: “Hey i’m never buying Axe products again you fucking thieves Oldspiceforlife.”

Axe persevered with the campaign. Within 30 days of Shower Thoughts Episode 1 (with JaSfield’s quote), Axe uploaded three more Shower Thoughts videos to its YouTube channel. Redditors and others downvoted (disliked) these videos sharply, and as a result they did not perform as well as Axe’s less expensive, less promoted campaigns. The episodes following Episode 1 have less than 10% of its views. Axe’s “How to Do a Manbun” video has more views than “Shower Thoughts Episode 2: Featuring Chester See.”

Twitter Fallout

Axe has struggled to connect with users over its official social channels over the past year. The #FindYourMagic campaign that the company launched in January on YouTube wasn’t catching on (the campaign’s failure could have been a catalyst for Shower Thoughts). In the month before it posted the first Shower Thoughts episode, @Axe averaged 126 likes, comments, or replies per tweet on Twitter. For a global brand with 134,000 followers, that’s abysmal.

To reach more Twitter users, Axe tried to compensate for low engagement numbers by tweeting more. Sending 88 tweets from February 23 to March 23, the brand averaged just 369.7 engagements (likes, comments, retweets) per day.