With the evolution of the digital world, it’s getting increasingly harder for brands to ‘hide’ from mistakes and cover their tracks. Social media especially, has fuelled the fire for multiple brands, and resulted in brands having to deal with repercussions of their blunders for an extended period of time. In this day and age, it’s imperative that brands are tactful with what they put across to their audience, and avoid being the ‘talk of the town’ for the wrong reasons.
How exactly have some brands missed the mark, and what did they do to deal with the consequences? Were brands able to survive the wrath of consumers in the digital world or are they still facing challenges? As marketers, it’s important to take a look at how businesses are dealing with their blunders, to ensure that we’re able to learn from them and avoid making the same mistakes.
Dove’s Ad-Related Crisis
About two years ago, Dove faced a crisis when it ran a Facebook advertisement that featured a GIF of a black woman that removed her shirt to reveal a white woman. Dove received severe backlash because the advertisement was deemed as racist and that their messaging was tone-deaf.
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Dropping the advertisement on Facebook also meant that it spread like wildfire through social media with individuals such as Ava DuVernay criticising the advertisement. While Dove did apologise and mentioned that they “missed the mark”, there were nearly 3,000 negative tweets circulating around the web, along with the trending hashtag #boycottdove.
In the case of Dove, individuals were especially angry as this wasn’t the first time such an incident had occurred. Furthermore, it contradicted what Dove originally stood for – real beauty, and celebrating all types of women.
In such an instance, it might take some time for Dove to rebuild their brand image, and for consumers to believe that they practice what they preach. Moving forward, the organisation would need to consider the messaging of their content and view it from a variety of perspectives before releasing it.
Dolce & Gabanna’s Pizza Incident
It might have been a year since the Dolce & Gabanna incident when a questionable campaign featuring a Chinese model eating pizza with chopsticks angered individuals – especially in China. However, Dolce & Gabanna is far from out of the clear.
While the advertisement was accused of being racist, it also didn’t help that a series of Instagram exchanges between two designers behind the fashion line, and a model also came across as patronising, and potentially racist.
With China known to have the largest social media market in the world with around 674 million social media users on local sites such as WeChat and Weibo, it’s of no surprise that this incident spread like wildfire across the various channels.
In fact, Dolce & Gabanna is still feeling the heat to this very day. Social media engagement for the brand was down 98 percent compared to the same quarter last year, and both celebrity as well as consumer support has waned significantly. The brand also continues to be eliminated from all major e-tailers in China. Cancel culture is also gaining traction in China with consumers taking action through not buying the brand’s products or engaging with them on social media in a bid to boycott the brand.
Needless to say, with Dolce & Gabanna, the situation wasn’t handled in the best manner. With the release of the campaign along with the insensitive Instagram conversation exchange, it created plenty of negative buzz that makes it incredibly difficult for the brand to bounce back – especially in China.
KFC’s FCK Bucket
While the above were brands that missed the mark, it doesn’t mean that bouncing back isn’t a possibility. In the case of KFC, they dealt with an incredibly embarrassing situation in a cheeky yet efficient manner.
Last year, KFC dealt with an unfortunate incident where they ran out of chicken in a significant number of their UK and Ireland restaurants. While the backlash was real, and customers were angered by the absence of chicken in a fried chicken chain, KFC apologised by placing an ad in newspapers with an apology message, along with an image of an empty bucket of chicken, and changing the words to FCK instead of KFC.
This witty apology received positive reception on social media, with many marketers and fans applauding the company for its apology. Instead of individuals talking about how KFC didn’t have chicken, the cheeky apology advertisement became viral instead.
In the case of KFC, while they had to deal with an unsavoury situation, they were able to harness the power of social media, and turn all of it around in their favour.
Being Exposed
At the end of the day, no organisation is perfect, and there may come a day where an organisation would need to deal with a crisis or backlash that stems from an accidental mistake. While it’s obvious that social media and the community surrounding it is unforgiving, and very few brands can turn things around like KFC can, it isn’t an entirely impossible situation.
While it would differ from organisation to organisation, it seems that dealing swiftly with the situation, being earnest with your apology, and engaging with the audience, is the best way to deal with a crisis. After all, you can’t hide from your mistakes in the digital world.
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