And while they're at it, I hope there have been consequences, if only some serious soul searching, for the Alaska Air and T-Mobile PR people who apparently jumped on this.
While I agree it’s really awful for the “legitimate” companies to jump on this - in reality it wasn’t a boardroom decision, it was some millennial they put in charge of the twitter account who has been raised with the same lack of awareness and social respect as the clowns that recorded it to begin with.
Yes. That's one reason I wouldn't be calling for anyone's head over it. As you suggest, it's probably one or more young, inexperienced PR/social media people at those companies who thought they were doing something clever. I'd much rather these and other companies take it as an opportunity to reconsider their actions and put better policies in place rather than firing someone so as to be seen as "doing something."