On Saturday, Amazon sent out a tweet advertising deals on the site that accidentally turned into a Rorschach test. Accompanying the tweet was an image of an ironing board cover — one of the many items available for sale on the online shopping platform — that was misinterpreted by the internet to be an array of different items.
To be fair, the picture is of a relatively abstract blue shape with no contextual clues or words to help viewers understand what it is. Yes, it looks like an ironing board from an aerial view. But Twitter users saw anything but ironing board covers leading one to question if Amazon needs to improve its selection of photographs or if Twitter users have a skewed perception of certain shapes.
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New Deals, Every Day! Check out today's deals. https://t.co/WH8fKWiR3l pic.twitter.com/uaUf9PAMpl
— Amazon (@amazon) April 8, 2017
If users had clicked the link in the tweet, they’d realise what the image was actually representing: Premium Scorch Resistant Ironing Board Cover. Even though Amazon swiftly provided clarification to confused users on the microblogging platform, that didn’t stop the internet from speculating on what Amazon was trying to sell them.
@Yaso385 It looks like it's a Premium Scorch Resistant Padded Ironing Board Cover. It's one of today's deals. ^VS
— Amazon Help (@AmazonHelp) April 8, 2017
Majority debated (in good fun) whether the image was a vibrator or a condom, though others threw in more rated-G items into the mix like a blue crayon and beauty sponges.
well that picture certainly got me to click. (spoiler: it's an ironing board cover, not some sort of *ahem* OTHER cover.) https://t.co/S4QoO1Is7m
— Peter Senftleben (@gr8thepeter) April 9, 2017
@amazon Finally bought the blue crayon I've been looking for!! Thanks https://t.co/uC3462RAON!
— DMAC15310 (@mixedNUTgallery) April 9, 2017
@amazon Uhhhhh.... #AmazonKnowsAboutMySockDrawer
— Fuberdonkey (@LaffItUpFzbl) April 9, 2017
@amazon Um.... Imma give ya the benefit of the doubt and guess it's a makeup blender sponge?
— Pink Cat Yarn (@adbeau) April 9, 2017
@amazon I thought the photo was accidentally suggestive, until I saw the cheeky smile on their logo. :-)
— LoneWolf907 (@LoneWolf907) April 9, 2017
This ? image ? needs ? context ? https://t.co/MQhXA5oZOZ
— Brayden Frascone (@BraydenFrascone) April 8, 2017
At the end of the day, Amazon got the folks on Twitter talking about its sale. Albeit, not the way they were likely hoping.