Habitat apologises for Iran tweets

Habitat has issued an apology for the addition of keywords associated with Iranian unrest to promote products on Twitter.

On Twitter, the Iranian election has been top of the trend list for nearly two weeks.

Tweets, or posts, coming from Habitat's Twitter account, used hashtag terms such as #Iran and #Mousavi so people searching for these terms would see Habitat adverts.

The exploit was quickly spotted by angry Twitter members and the posts were subsequently removed.

One tweet sent from the Habitat UK account but since removed read: "#MOUSAVI Join the database for free to win a £1,000 gift card."

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Habitat said the tweets were "not authorised" but failed to declare who was responsible. The company said it "never sought to abuse Twitter".

"This was absolutely not authorised by Habitat, we were shocked when we discovered what happened," a Habitat spokesman said.

On Twitter people have been berating the company for its behaviour.

"Disgraceful. Maybe this will backfire enough that Twitter users will boycott Habitat goods," tweeted one person.

Alex Burmaster, communications director at research firm Nielsen Online, said what Habitat had done was extraordinary.

"This could not have led to anything other than a consumer backlash. The bottom line is that it was a serious misjudgement," Burmaster said.

"They have used a political and human situation that many people are concerned about to market their products and services and that is not right," he added.

In Habitat's most recent tweet the company said that 140 characters aren't enough for a full apology.