Amazon’s Warehouse Propaganda Project Backfires Completely

Sex, plots and blackmail: the toxic politics behind Bezos claims
AFP
Lucas Nolan

Amazon’s “FC Ambassadors” program, designed to spread positive messages about the company on social media, has appeared to backfire on the e-commerce giant as a thread about working conditions at Amazon fulfillment centers went viral.

A recent report from Business Insider outlines how Amazon’s “Fulfillment Center Ambassadors” program has backfired spectacularly on the company. The Amazon FC Ambassadors are warehouse workers who were asked to share their experiences about working at Amazon with the world via Twitter. Amazon stated at the time “It’s important that we do a good job of educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfillment centers.”

The project was designed as a response to reports of poor working conditions at Amazon warehouses, with workers responding to people posting negatively about Amazon and tweeting about their daily work routines. Twitter users Diana Wilde responded to a recent tweet from the Amazon News account which invited followers to tour a fulfillment center and “see what our warehouses are really like.”

Wilde stated: “Really like? cause your workers are liars? you’re not going to convince the working class that everything is fine by telling us where to avert our eyes, we already know what it’s really like. why don’t you really treat your workers better, you can afford it.” This resulted in a number of responses from Amazon FC Ambassadors.

Amazon FC Ambassador Dylan replied: “Everything is fine, I don’t think there is anything wrong with the money I make or the way I am treated at work.” Ambassador Rafael added: “It’s a lot of physical work but I believe that associates are not treated less.” Twitter users were not convinced, with one accusing the ambassadors of writing “propaganda for amazon with fake Twitter accounts.”

Users began to question if some of the FC Ambassador accounts were even real, noting that the account had at times changed hands. For example, one account previously linked to a worker named Michelle was not being used by a worker called Rafael:

Users then realized that it is easy to impersonate an Amazon FC Ambassador simply by changing their Twitter display name. They then mocked the company with their own fake ambassador posts:

An Amazon spokesperson commented on the fake accounts stating:

FC ambassadors are employees who work in our FCs and share facts based on their personal experience. It’s important that we do a good job educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfillment centers, and the FC ambassador program is a big part of that along with the FC tours we provide.

Thousands of guests across the world have come to see for themselves what it’s like to work inside one of our FCs. If you haven’t visited, we recommend it.

Breitbart News will continue to report on Amazon’s working conditions and social media efforts.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com

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