A pseudo-mockumentary of workers at an ACE Hardware store somewhere in America planning what tools they would use to kill zombies brought out the ire in an ACE official.
After the video "When the Zombies Come" was "hand-selected for YouTube by the Short Film Programmers" to be part of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Shorts, the hardware company jumped in from their own YouTube channel – acehardware:
"Ace Hardware was not aware that a video encouraging violent behavior was produced and we did not approve the use of our brand or store in the video. We are aghast and outraged that these individuals used our brand in this film. This video does not represent Ace Hardware and the Ace employees that are knowledgeable and dedicated to serving Ace customers. We are making every effort to remove this video from all online sources. We greatly value our customers and are deeply offended by this video."
Not sure what they had planned, but it didn't appear to work.
The comment and the video were removed at least once each, judging by the comments on the current video (which you can watch above, for now). The ACE comment has also been flagged again, so who knows how long that will be up.
Anyway, it doesn't look like commenters cared much about the ACE connection until the company threw its hissy fit. Then, the backlash started.
- Awesome video. Not sure what happened to the other 150,000+ views but I'm sure y'all will get them back. Ace hardware corporate can suck it!!!
- Settle down there Ace. This is probably the most anyone has cared about your company. Ever.
- Public domain. They could take all of the outside shots they wanted and you have ZERO to say about it. As for the inside video, since you didn't request them off of your property during the shooting, again, you lost your say in the matter. You lose Ace Hardware. You should be happy your struggling store got some exposure.
Then came the biting irony:
- This makes me want to buy an ACE hardware polo
- I'm going to shop at ACE because of this video! Take a chill pill management...
- So are you saying "No Kids, No Bitches" is not a new Ace Hardware slogan? (Referring to a phrase in the video.)
Note to company public relations: Don't take yourselves too seriously online, because no one else is going to.
~jakeellison/seattlepi.com
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