A social media campaign designed to highlight the positives of Victoria's taxi industry has backfired, with people instead sharing tales of unskilled, racist, rude and abusive drivers.

The Victorian Taxi Association (VTA), which sent a call-out to the people of Melbourne to "tell your taxi story", denied the negative response to the campaign was an "epic fail".

Negative and sarcastic stories quickly took over the #yourtaxis and #taxiyourway hashtags as Twitter users flooded the official @yourtaxis account with complaints.

"Driver fell asleep on freeway and almost wiped out car in next lane because he'd pulled an all-nighter," wrote one user.

"It smelled like a wookiee's armpit. I was preached at about how Somali immigrants are destroying Australia for 25 minutes," said another.

Another wrote: "Driver said he didn't know where Flinders Street Station was and had me direct him there. Flinders. Street. Station."

Others highlighted tales of sexual harassment, or talked about being refused a short fare or having their belongings stolen by taxi drivers. Many said they now used ride-sharing service Uber instead.

Not everyone was critical of the taxis, with one person writing: "Going to buck the trend as far as @yourtaxis is concerned. Took 2 cabs whilst in Melbourne, friendly drivers and great service."

The campaign comes as the industry battles with rival Uber, and coincides with the launch of a new website and a competition to win free taxi rides for a year.

VTA chief executive David Samuel denied the negative reaction was a "social media fail of epic proportions".

"This was never about selling something, this is about starting a direct conversation with everyone who uses Victorian taxis. This is what we have achieved," he said in a statement.

"The response online over the past 24 hours isn't anything we didn't expect. We asked for feedback and we got it. The good and the bad and everything in between.

"It also demonstrates the number of people that rely on taxi services and we want to make sure our service continues to meet customers' expectations in a period of rapid change.

"We will respond to everything that comes our way on YourTaxis."

The @yourtaxis Twitter account has been busily responding to complaints, and told one user it did not see the campaign as a failure, but rather as an opportunity to begin a conversation with customers.

It is not the first time a social media campaign has gone awry. Last year a New York police department campaign to boost its image via social media instead produced critical tweets and a flood of pictures of apparent police brutality.

Qantas also misjudged its #QantasLuxury campaign, with one Twitter user labelling it "the Hindenburg of social media".