Subby McSubface?

Viral campaign backfires when the public voted to name a ship ‘Boaty McBoatface’

The vessel known as Boaty McBoatface will instead be called RRS Sir David Attenborough.

The potential perils of using social media are now clear to Britain's Natural Environment Research Council. When it asked the public to name its new £200 million (Dh1.06bn) polar research vessel, the overwhelming winner was Boaty McBoatface, forcing UK science minister Jo Johnson to announce that they did not, in fact, want the public to name the new ship after all and it will instead be called RRS Sir David Attenborough.

This spectacular own-goal adds to the short but rich history of backfiring social media campaigns. Starbucks’s UK division, for example, promoted #spreadthecheer for Christmas but the hashtag was dominated by demands the company pay its taxes.

In the hope of assuaging those who voted for the winning name, one of the ship’s submersible vessels will be called Boaty McBoatface. But has this just compounded its original error? Almost immediately, a social media campaign began saying it wasn’t a boat, so should really be called Subby McSubface.