Airbnb Apologizes To San Francisco For Passive Aggressive advert marketing campaign

After being known as out many times on social and local media, Airbnb has mentioned it is getting rid of an outdoor advert campaign in San Francisco that attempted to make gentle of the $12 million the company has paid the city in resort taxes.

The campaign appears to had been launched so that you can subtly encourage opposition to a piece of rules referred to as Proposition F, which might extra strictly keep watch over Airbnb-sort leases. the company has reportedly spent upwards of $eight million opposing Prop F, and had simplest started paying the city’s lodge tax this yr after warding off it for years. an irony no longer misplaced on locals reacting to the new campaign, with many taking exception to the $25 billion model treating its taxes as some kind of charitable contribution. San Francisco State assistant professor Martha Kenney posted an open letter to Airbnb on facebook that sums up local opposition to the promoting sentiment.

pricey Airbnb,

i’m chuffed to listen to that you just paid your taxes this yr. I did too! is not it superior? however, I’ve crunched some numbers and i have some unhealthy information for you. Out of your $12 mil of resort tax, only 1.4% goes to the SF Public Libraries. in order that’s $168,000. Divided by way of the 868 library group of workers, we now have $193 per particular person. Assuming every worker works 5 days per week minus holidays, this is $0.seventy eight per employee per day. considering which is significantly underneath San Francisco minimum wage ($12.25/hr), I doubt that your lodge tax can keep the libraries open more than a minute or two later.

however, had you donated that $8 million you spent combating Proposition F immediately to the public libraries you like so much, that may have made an even bigger difference. Oh neatly. Hindsight is 20/20!

Love,

Martha Kenney (San Francisco resident)

In a statement to SF Weekly, Airbnb apologized and mentioned it’s taking down the billboards and posters. “The intent was once to point out the lodge tax contribution from our hosts and friends, which is roughly $1 million monthly. It was once the unsuitable tone and we say sorry to any individual who used to be offended. These advertisements are being taken down in an instant.”

For a model that prides itself on a capability to embody local communities, this native land mishap will not sit well. not long ago, CMO Jonathan Mildenhall informed Co.Create that his mission is to create a “group-driven superbrand,” and that the formula for Airbnb’s final success is “harnessing the community, after which using excessive hardcore analytics and excessive creativity to project this brand into the longer term in a technique that no different brand has finished ahead of.”