Shutterfly photobook caption mishap gets internet attention

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Shutterfly’s Default Captions appeared

It’s a data error that can beset even the best personalized-photo companies. For high-profile personalized products leader Shutterfly, however, the story of one such error went viral. A TikToker named Niki (@niki_nibs) shared her story of how a set of default captions were placed in her wedding photo album: “I just got married in April, and my mom made my husband and me a flipbook with some wedding photos in it, so let’s look at it real quick.”

As she pages through the book, the bride quickly starts laughing as the default captions appear. On one page, there was a photo of her husband and his best man. The caption read, “She managed to hold on to that bubble for over a minute before it burst.” This description was seemingly referring to a little girl blowing a bubble. another was “A Day at the Park.

On another page, a stand-alone shot of Niki’s husband read, “The joy of life.” Despite the errors, the young couple has made the most of it. In this video, her husband is shown replacing a large wall portrait of the couple with an enlargement of this “Joy of Life” pose.

Several pop-culture sites, like Distractify, picked up the story and amplified it.

Kudos to Shutterfly for being a good sport. In many follow-up responses, the company showed much grace and helpfulness. In a hilarious follow up video, the company made an additional book with Niki’s family’s personal photos, also with mismatched captions.

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Gary Pageau is principal of InfoCircle LLC, continuing his marketing communications career. InfoCircle LLC is a marketing and communications consulting firm, specializing in business-to-business markets. For nearly 25 years, he was with PMA International, serving most recently as Publisher, Content Development and Strategic Initiatives. His primary responsibilities included overseeing the Association’s editorial department, marketing research unit, education and corporate relations department.