In a classic case of mistaken identity, a Saint John-based insurance brokerage became the target of disparaging comments after U.S. citizens incorrectly flooded the brokerage’s Twitter account with messages meant for a U.S. senator whose name sounds a lot like the firm’s.
Canadian brokerage Mitchell McConnell Insurance was bombarded with criticism and even insults meant for U.S. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, reported
CBC News.
"We'll get a comment along the lines of 'Senator, you're not doing your job. Pick up your socks,' to just blathering profanity to just everything in between," said Mitchell McConnell Insurance president Chris Bourque.
Bourque and his team would typically correct Twitter users of their mistakes, unless the messages went overboard with their negative sentiments.
The brokerage’s president noted that at times, even when the company’s employees reason that the account has nothing to do with the U.S. senator, some people just cannot buy it.
"We call those the tinfoil hat folks," Bourque remarked.
Incidentally, Bourque has met the real Mitch McConnell in 2003. Bourque was then attending a business conference in the U.S. when he ran into the Republican senator from Kentucky.
"He was pleasantly courteous to me," Bourque recalled.
When asked if he thinks Senator McConnell is receiving tweets meant for the brokerage, Bourque entertained the possibility.
"I hope they're more pleasant than his," he said.
CBC News noted that Mitchell McConnell Insurance is not the only Canadian entity being mistaken for a U.S. politician; the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has been receiving tweets meant for the Republican National Committee.
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