Hashtag Confusion at the White House

The White House has been concurrently running two campaigns dealing with wages. The first is an effort to raise the minimum wage. There’s a dedicated page on the White House site for that effort headlined “Raise the Wage.” The White House has been using the hashtag “#RaiseTheWage” on Twitter. Here’s a recent example:

“I urge Congress to follow Minnesota’s lead: Raise the federal minimum wage.” –President Obama: http://t.co/TCOHCCaenb #RaiseTheWage

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 10, 2014

The other ongoing effort is an attempt to push the gender gap as a mainstream issue. This issue also has a dedicated page on the White House site titled “Your Right to Equal Pay.” And not surprisingly, the White House is using the hashtag “#EqualPay” to promote the effort on Twitter.

But it looks as if someone at the White House got their wires crossed today. Here’s a tweet they posted a few minutes ago which is clearly part of the “#EqualPay” campaign. And the graphic itself is clearly about the gender gap (the $431,000 figure probably comes from this CAP info-graphic). But check out the hashtag they used on the graphic itself. Oops!

On average, women still earn just $0.77 for every $1 men earn.
RT if you agree it’s long past time to change that. pic.twitter.com/eUnDQb1qkD

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 14, 2014