WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THESE PR DISASTERS
No brand ever wants to be amid a PR disaster but unfortunately, in some instances, it’s inevitable. A lesson in crisis comms could have come in handy for these PR blunders but thankfully we can learn from their mistakes.
Coles faced boycott by some shoppers the first time around when they released their Little Shop Minis due to it adding to the problem of single use plastics. Yet it seems Little Shop minis were so successful the first time around that they’re willing to cop the backlash and launch them again. Last year saw tens of thousands of Australians attending swap meets and joining online forums in a bid to complete their collections. So, this month will see Little Shop 2 launch with 30 mini replicas of products such as Vegemite, Heinz Baked Beans, Tip Top bread and Campbell’s Tomato Soup. At a time when Coles are enforcing a plastic bag ban on customers to ‘reduce waste’, Coles Little Shop 2 is set to become an unnecessary PR nightmare. Not to mention the poor timing of the launch – during plastic free July. A petition has already been set up on Change.org, urging shoppers boycott the chain. It has been signed by 1000 people in just 3 days. WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM IT: Don’t chase short term profits at the detriment of your brand. Sure, the first roll out was a success from a monetary perspective, but over time the campaign is just diminishing brand sentiment and will inevitably lose customers. This second release feels as though customers’ concerns the first time around have simply fallen on deaf ears.
When two Dominos employees posted a video to Youtube showing them preparing food in unsanitary ways it caused a viral sensation. By the afternoon, the video had been viewed more than a million times on YouTube and later references to the prank were in five of the 12 results on the first page of Google search for ‘Dominos’. WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM IT: Domino’s didn’t react to the situation straight away and instead waited two days before responding. By then, it was too late. According to The New York Times, consumer perception of Domino’s brand turned negative within hours. The key takeaway here is that social media works in real time and the reach and speed of it can turn a prank into a PR nightmare in a matter of hours. When it comes to social media, respond right away to start mitigating the damage.
H&M released an advertising campaign for its children’s clothing that caused a stir due to its seemingly insensitive placement of slogans. On H&M’s website, a young African-American boy modelled a jumper that said, ‘coolest monkey in the jungle,’ while a Caucasian model wore a similar jumper that said, ‘jungle survivor expert.’ Millions of people were outraged by the incident and the brand copped public backlash on Twitter. WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM IT: Whilst the public outrage was enough for H&M to remove the jumper from its website and pull the shirt from its stores worldwide, the damage had already been done. To H&M’s credit, they did apologise, but the aftermath saw the brand having to close its store in South Africa and lose its partnership with music artist The Weeknd. In this day and age brands need to be more diligent and show awareness for matters that count.
Unfortunately, in the same year that H&M copped flack for its monkey business, Dove was forced to apologise for one of its Facebook ads. The offending ad showed a black woman removing her brown shirt to reveal a smiling white woman in a crisp white shirt underneath. Needless to say, the ad was widely criticized for insinuating that black people could use soap to clean themselves into white people. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that Dove has made such a racially insensitive gaffe. In 2011 an ad showed women who are gradually lighter in skin colour standing in front of the words ‘before’ and ‘after,’ with many consumers feeling it implied that brown skin is dirty. WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM IT: Dove removed the ad from Facebook and released a statement that said it ‘committed to representing the beauty of diversity’ but had ‘missed the mark’ with its ad. Twitter users weren’t sold on the apology, with many expressing frustration and confusion about the face that the ad was approved in the first place. For a brand so adamant that they represent body positivity and racial diversity, they need to get better at listening to how they can do so effectively.
Another insensitive ad comes in the form of Kendall Jenner’s turn at promoting Pepsi, with the ad showing her strolling up to a political protest and insinuating that it could be resolved with a can of the beloved drink. Needless to say, the ad caused outrage given the current political climate and was mocked for being insensitive and tasteless.WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM IT: It seems the ad execs were trying to project a global message of unity through its ad however customers simply found it insensitive and a little confusing. The ad sparked outrage and mockery online with the company initially defending itself before pulling the ad and apologising. The news here is that PR disasters can sometimes be resolved thanks to some fortunate timing. In a stroke of luck, a United Airlines controversy took centre stage and redirected some of the attention to them and Pepsi got of seemingly lightly.
