To help celebrate reaching 1 million Twitter followers, the NFL's New England Patriots on Thursday encouraged fans to retweet a post in exchange for a personalized digital Patriots jersey. This promotional move led to the Patriots accidentally sending out a tweet that contained a racial slur. Here are some more memorable social fumbles. 
Bill Cosby had a Twitter fail of his own this week. The comedian encouraged Twitter to use his photo as part of a #CosbyMeme, thinking fans would share messages like, "Happy Monday!" But with rape allegations resurfacing against Cosby, people instead used the meme to create mocking Twitter messages such as, "My Two Favorite Things: Jello Pudding & Rape." 
In November 2012, Oprah Winfrey wanted to tell the world that Microsoft's new Surface tablet was one of her #FavoriteThings. "Gotta say (I) love that SURFACE! Have bought 12 already for Christmas gifts," gushed the media queen. So what's the fail? She sent the tweet from her iPad. 
Twitter can be a great place to take a poll -- but not with this question that Dr. Phil asked in August 2013. The Twitterati bashed the talk-show host with such responses as, "@DrPhil - here's a hint; if you wouldn't want it done to yourself, your child, or your loved ones, IT IS NOT OKAY. Also, you're a moron." Dr. Phil later deleted the tweet and offered an explanation. 
Robin Thicke now knows that it's not wise to play on Twitter when you have some serious bad PR hanging over your head. When the singer decided to host an #askThicke Twitter Q&A in July, the whole enterprise unsurprisingly got out of hand. At the time, Thicke was in the middle of a separation from his wife that was rumored to have been caused by his poor behavior -- and was viewed as promoting misogyny with his hit "Blurred Lines." There was no way an #askThicke hashtag was going to go well. 
In 2011, the Kenneth Cole clothing line made a mistake that's unfortunately become way too common with companies: using a trending topic to promote a product without realizing what the trend is actually about. During that year's violent street protests in Egypt, the clothier tweeted the unrest was due to people hearing his "new spring collection is now available online." Yeah, no. Cole later removed the tweet and apologized. 
Ashton Kutcher made such a massive Twitter fail in 2011 that he turned his entire account over to professionals. At the time, Kutcher weighed in on Penn State's decision to fire football coach Joe Paterno with a tweet that read, "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste." Kutcher later said he posted the tweet without knowing "the full story," which was that Paterno was fired amid allegations of child sex abuse involving his assistant Jerry Sandusky. 
You would think someone who works in public relations would know better, but Twitter fails don't discriminate. Justine Sacco, a former PR exec with media company IAC, lost her job after posting this jaw-dropping tweet in 2013: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" 
Twitter also hosts plenty of hoaxes. During the Thanksgiving holiday in 2013, reality TV producer Elan Gale took the world for a ride when he went on a Twitter rant about an obnoxious fellow airline passenger he named "Diane in 7A." Gale did such a masterful job live-tweeting his "feud" that it went viral, with followers declaring themselves on #TeamDiane or #TeamGale. The fail was on all of us when Gale later revealed Diane didn't even exist. 
An epic social-media fail went to the Arizona restaurant owners who were made to look completely bonkers on "Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares," then looked even more bonkers in a flurry of rants on their Facebook page. Among the posts from Amy's Baking Company were threats of legal action against "Yelpers," "Reddits" and other "fat, disgusting losers" and claims that they were tracking their critics down with the help of the FBI. The social media meltdown brought them more negative press than their appearance on the TV show.
- The New England Patriots had a social fail on Thursday
- The football team inadvertently posted a tweet that included a racial slur
- It's the second social media gaffe this week
- Earlier, Bill Cosby's #CosbyMeme went awry
(CNN) -- On Twitter, even the best intentions can lead to disastrous results.
That's what happened to the NFL's New England Patriots this week, when the football team's attempt to reward their followers on Twitter turned into a social media manager's worst nightmare.
It all began Thursday morning, when the Patriots tweeted they were celebrating reaching 1 million followers by thanking fans with "custom digital Pats jerseys."
The "custom digital jersey" was actually a photo of the back of a Patriots jersey displaying a fan's Twitter handle where the player's name appears. So if your Twitter handle is, say, @ILoveCookies, you got a tweet from the Patriots account that included a photo of the jersey with @ILoveCookies on the back, along with a thank-you note.
But what if the Twitter handle contains a racial slur? The Patriots didn't think that through. When a Twitter user with the name @IHateN*****ss asked for a jersey of their own, the Patriots cheerfully responded.
"@IHATEN*****SS Thanks for helping with 1 million followers!" the tweet said, along with the promised photo of a Patriots jersey bearing @IHATEN*****SS on the back.
The tweet stayed up for about an hour, to the incredulity of those online who spotted it. Soon after, the tweet was removed and the Patriots issued an apology.
The Patriots' fiasco is the second major social media fail we've seen this week. Comedian Bill Cosby, who is facing allegations of rape, learned that encouraging Twitter to use his photo for a meme did not go the way he expected. Although Cosby has denied the allegations, people still mocked him by creating their own meme images that included rape jokes.
Check out the gallery above to see more major social media blunders.
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