"United Broke My Guitar" - Analyzing the song by The Sons of Maxwell

In this assignment for my master's class, Principles of Strategic Communication, we studied the media campaign by The Sons of Maxwell and their objective of drawing attention to United Airline's poor customer service. Their campaign comprised of several songs that chronicled their interactions with United while attempting to receive compensation for a damaged guitar.

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When analyzing song lyrics, it's tricky because the primary message the composer typically wants to convey is delivered in the song's chorus, the part that continuously gets repeated throughout. So, to criticize the lyrics for not being relevant right away is somewhat moot. The campaign, however, was brilliant because it highlighted a deep frustration with Airlines at the time that is still prevalent to this day.

The title alone, which was also absurdly funny, triggered an emotional response that stems from previous experiences with airlines (I recently spent extra sick days due to canceled flights during a layover). Because of this emotion, the title also established credibility, and although it indicates what happens in the story, I still found myself curious to see what happens. In the music video,

Dave Carroll also makes the story clear, simple, and concise - he was on a plane, United broke his expensive guitar, and they refused to compensate him. Thats it. Relatable, memorable, and brilliantly executed. Even when he is describing his interactions with customer service, he still keeps it simple while managing to be humorous.

Again, this would not have succeeded if there was not a deep-seated frustration that most people could relate to. For many viewers, there was schadenfreude watching United suffer for their lack of empathy and customer service. As evidence, the views on YouTube had 503,000 views in four days and caused United's stock to tumble. 

Despite the immense successes, I would have liked to see The Sons of Maxwell go even further in their messaging, going on more talk shows, news outlets, and live performances to advocate for customer care. As pretty much all of us can attest, although this song did hurt United, it was only a pinprick in the end, as their stock returned to normal the very next day.