Netflix and chill? It's not as innocent as it sounds

ASB Bank has taken customer service to extreme lengths by sexually propositioning a customer via its official Twitter account after she tweeted to say thanks for good service.

Auckland legal services worker Grace Hall tweeted the ASB, New Zealand's fourth-largest bank, to say "you have some of the loveliest staff ever". In the exchange of jokey tweets that followed, the bank asked "Netflix and chill 4eva? Or are we moving to fast ?"

"Netflix and chill" is widely understood to mean watching TV while having sex, but an ASB spokesman said the social media staffer operating the Twitter account didn't realise the phrase had a sexual double-meaning.

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The bank later deleted its tweets, but not before they had been screen-grabbed and reposted by a Twitter account that collects examples of corporate social-media embarrassments.

The staffer, Alex Spence, declined to comment on Saturday.

Twitter The indecent proposal started when Grace Hall complimented ASB on their staff.

But Hall, 24, said she found the exchange, which took place in January, "pretty hilarious".

She hasn't made a complaint to the bank: "It didn't bring me any offence. It didn't hurt me in any way."

She said she had felt embarrassed on the bank's behalf for having tried to be cool and failed, and at first assumed the tweet had been written by an older staff member who didn't realise what they were saying.

Supplied Despite the "Netflix and chill" reference, Hall played along in the jokey exchange.

"Whoever manages them wouldn't have been too happy about it. I felt they would have copped enough flak from the people who'd seen it."

Later she did a little cyber-sleuthing and realised the staff member was a man around her own age, which made her think it was more likely he'd known the double-meaning.

ASB spokesman Christian May said on Friday that there had been no change in policy or guidelines for staff, as this was "a genuine mistake".

Supplied She even offered to bring the popcorn.

"We encourage healthy dialogue between people on our social media accounts, and it's just a timely reminder to be conscious of what you're writing. These are humans manning the Twitter account, and occasionally these things happen. There was no malice."

He said no apology had been sought by, or made to, Hall. "We just took it down and left it at that."

May also forwarded a link to a website listing numerous other instances where companies and media organisations had innocently misused the phrase "Netflix and chill".

Jon Randles of Mosh Social Media Marketing in Auckland said the gaffe was a good example of the dangers large brands face when trying to use social media to engage more directly with customers, especially younger, internet-savvy ones.

He said social media users are wary of Twitter or Facebook accounts that feel like they're run by "an old white guy trying to be cool" so businesses often hire younger staff to run them. Those inexperienced youngsters can then sometimes "start to put your larger brand at risk".

Act leader David Seymour, who provoked a storm in a teacup last month by telling a reporter he planned to "Netflix and chill" over the summer, said the staffer's only crime was that he was "lacking a bit of style – and most people I know have been guilty of that at some time or other".