#1
Some of the better responses:
Does the sleaze wash off with a regular shower, or do you have to use something special like babies tears?
Did you have a specific number of people’s lives you needed to ruin before you considered your business model a success?
When Jamie Dimon eats babies are they served rare? I understand anything above medium-rare is considered gauche.
Do you have a secret jail in your offices so your executives get at least one chance to see the inside of one?
What’s the best way to get blood stains out of a clown suit?
Do your clothes fit better since you don’t have the added weight of a soul?
Can I have my house back?
#2
The evil tax dodging Starbucks UK sponsored an ice rink one winter in London and there was a big screen that would post real time tweets with the hashtag #spreadthecheer, hoping for lovely, Christmassy tweets of people skating, enjoying their mocho choco crappos or whatever.
What they got was a barrage of effing and blinding tweets about how they were tax dodging, low paying bad coffee making scum.
Ah, the British public.
#3
Within a day it was spouting off racist and inflammatory tweets and Microsoft ended up taking it down.
Broadly speaking, it’s very difficult to build up a positive reputation. It takes years of offering consistently good products and services to earn your customers’ loyalty. However, reputation is a fragile thing. It can be damaged very easily. All it takes is one social media disaster or public relations nightmare to put a dent in all of the goodwill (and profits) that you had amassed. It’s likely not the end of the company if you respond to the situation quickly and appropriately, but it will take lots of time and effort to rebuild all that trust.
PR Daily stresses that companies that hope to rebuild their reputation should do their best to accept that the narrative has shifted.
“Many organizations make the mistake of trying to control or erase the story, hoping the media cycle moves on — but you can’t undo the moment that sparked the crisis. What you can do is respond with clarity and humility and begin to tell a new story — one that demonstrates acceptance and growth rather than denial.”
Meanwhile, Forbes notes that the best thing you can do in a PR crisis is to act quickly to address the issue. Do not wait to take responsibility! The more proactive you are, the bigger your chances of making the crisis worse. Ideally, your corporation will already have protocols and chains of communication in place before any social media blunders occur.
#4
The remarkable thing is that somehow other businesses learned nothing from McDonald's blunder, despite the huge amount of publicity mcdstories got. Probably the most famous case after that one was mynypd, in which the NYPD encouraged people to share pictures of them with members of the NYPD. As I'm sure you can imagine most people used it to post pictures of police brutality.
#5
#6
So I got an email from them with the subject "sAMBER ALERT IN AFFECT". The joke being a play on amber alerts for missing kids and the name Sam.
When I read the email, I remember thinking "this is gonna be in the news."
And it was.
According to Forbes, after monitoring the negative fallout online and in the media, companies ought to be as transparent as possible. They should take accountability for what took place instead of ignoring it or doubling down.
“If you’re getting a flood of bad reviews, find out why and figure out how to deal with the issues and turn things around. If there’s been a misstep on the part of the CEO or other company executive, make an honest statement, apologize and, depending on what occurred, take action.”
These crises can be a blessing in disguise because they help your brand identify any weak points and fix those issues. That should, in theory, lead to better services, practices, and products in the future.
#7
Again they made another insensitive tweet. After over 500 people losing their lives on Malaysia's flights within months, they sent out a tweet asking costumers about their bucket lists...
#8
#9
What are the biggest social media disasters and public relations blunders that you’ve ever personally seen? What are the worst things that you’ve witnessed company representatives or public figures say or do?
On the flip side, what are some brands that you genuinely trust and why? Share your insights with your fellow readers in the comments.
#10
#11
"Guys Activision just shut down our steam page! We didn't do anything wrong! They've accused us of stealing their assets! Post this on reddit and get them to help us out. "
Reddit detectives quickly proved, with picture evidence, that Orion stole the assets.
#12
"Look like a girl
Act like a lady
Think like a man
Work like a boss"
They then went onto giving a very lousy apology:
" "We would like to apologise to all our fans who took offense to our recent Women’s Day Post. We can assure you that we meant it in the most empowering way possible and in no way derogatory towards women. We took the quote from a 'Women in Business' blog site. The blog site explains the quote and what its intentions were when it was written. BIC believe in celebrating women and the powerful contribution women make to our society."
Which caused even more uproar.
#13
Good enough to give out shirts that said "I'm a _____!" where you could fill in the blank with whatever you thought you were, I guess.
The internet happened, and they had to stop the giveaway when people started getting shirts that said awful stuff with a Dr Pepper logo right there next to it.
It was beautiful.
#14
#15
#16
Given the small town hivemind that is Adelaide opinion, that place has been empty ever since.
#17
#18
#19
#20
