read the room

You know when you get an idea and you’re like “I am 100% cooking with this, I’m a genius and I won’t hear otherwise?”

I imagine that’s how Andrew D’Souza, Founder and CEO of Boardy, felt when he came up with the #MakeLinkedInFunAgain campaign that went live on Monday.

Here’s what happened (and why people got upset with Boardy):

First, wtf is Boardy?

Boardy is an “AI super connector” (??) that, I guess, recommends people you should connect with on LinkedIn after chatting with you for a while on the phone. The company just raised a $8M seed round.

(No one asked for my opinion on the product but thanks, I hate it.)

Moving on… 

Andrew had the idea to send an email campaign called #MakeLinkedInFunAgain to…

Actually, to be honest, I’m still not sure what the purpose of this was.

The idea was to pretend to connect users to Donald Trump, I guess? So they used an AI prompt that interpreted a user’s profile photo and generated a message impersonating Trump.

Exhibit A:

The results were mixed, to say the least.

Quite a few women pointed out that using AI to send unsolicited messages about their appearances is really weird and creepy. 

There were also reports that the difference between messages men received vs. women was stark. Emails to men were more likely to note their accomplishments, while the messages to women focused on appearances.

Others pointed out that sending a message like this on the day of the inauguration – a very politically charged day – was just bad form.

Some folks also argued that this isn’t exactly a responsible use of AI or a smart way to build trust with consumers. This post from Kacie Jenkins at Sendoso is a great nuanced take.

(I mean…you know how much people love AI-generated messages that add 0 value, creep you out, and then ask you for a favor.)

After just a few hours of going live, Andrew issued an apology on LinkedIn, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they have to work overtime to rebuild brand equity – even with their fans. 

What can we learn from this, kids?

• Always approach campaigns with empathy for the user

• Include diverse voices and experiences at your decision-making table

• If you have a ✨ brilliant offbeat idea ✨ that you’re super duper excited about…maybe sleep on it!

P.S. I ran this campaign by ChatGPT for initial feedback and even it didn’t think this was the best move. 

Hey, I’m Amber! I’m a freelance content marketer/consultant and aspiring humorist. You can find me on LinkedIn, Medium, Bluesky, and my website. If you really like what I’m doing, you can buy me a coffee.