CorpComms Magazine

Chrysler has been forced to apologise for 'an inappropriate tweet' that appeared on its main Twitter account which was posted by an employee of its social media agency.

The car giant has also terminated its contract with Virginia-based New Media Strategies, which this year is celebrating '12 years of growth and social media excellence'.

The tweet, which read 'I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f***ing drive', was sent from @chryslerautos, which has more than 8,000 followers.

It was rapidly deleted, but not before being retweeted by bemused followers of Chrysler's Twitter account. In explanation, Chrysler tweeted: 'Our apologies - our account was compromised earlier today. We are taking steps to resolve it.'

In a blog posting, Chrysler said: 'Chrysler Group and its brands do not tolerate inappropriate language or behaviour, and apologise to anyone how may have been offended by this communication. Furthermore, the company has set in place appropriate steps to ensure that this does not happen again.'

New Media Strategies has since fired the employee involved. Chief executive Pete Snyder said he regretted 'the unfortunate incident', adding: 'It certainly doesn't accurately reflect the overall high quality work we have produced for Chrysler.

New Media Strategies website claims the agency 'has an unmatched record when it comes to providing the scale, insight and relationships needed to effectively connect to online audiences'.

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