"Why make your insecurities our problem?" reads a tweet from supplement brand Protein World, after complaints poured in over a controversial billboard. It's followed by a passive aggressive winking emoji and tweeted directly at a potential customer – breaking every rule in the social media playbook, right?

According to the world of online dating, coming across as an arse to some can make others love you more. If having haters makes those who like you like you all the more, does the same psychology apply to our relationships with brands? And does it actually pay for a brand to rub part of its audience up the wrong way?

#DeleteUber marked a turning point in online activism, with social media users banding together to take the moral high ground against Uber's badly-timed promotion. But did people ditch the app because they genuinely disagreed with the brand’s actions, or so they could post about it on Instagram?

Are we living in an outrage culture? Stoked by social media, unthinking transgressions can be blown up into major scandals as moral crusaders pile on the bandwagon. Some feel that the adoption of trigger warnings by universities is the latest illustration of this extreme sensitivity.