June was a big month for public controversy ESPECIALLY around the one thing we all love, food! With that being said, some of the cases were handled better than others. Here’s our thoughts on the initial responses of three companies involved in the less heard about PR drama in June.
Cheerios Gets Hate Mail
In late May, Cheerios aired a commercial depicting an interracial family discussing their breakfast plans. Most people wouldn’t give the TV spot a second thought, however, when General Mills placed the commercial on YouTube, hundreds of comments flooded in. The feedback was filled with racist slurs and hateful messages based on the interracial aesthetics of the family.
How did Cheerios respond? Simple. The comments section on the YouTube video was disabled. The VP of marketing also released a statement saying, “Consumers have responded positively to our new Cheerios ad. At Cheerios, we know there are many kinds of families and we celebrate them all.”
Our thoughts?
Cheerios removing the interactive aspect is a great way to stop the inappropriate comments; sort of. Although they did stop it on the corporate YouTube channel, the comments continued through other various means of social media. The “quick-fix” methodology may have fallen slightly flat, however, the released statement was appropriate and effective in stating their beliefs on the issue.
Chick-fil-A and the “Disappearing Tweet”
In late June, the Supreme Court made decisions in advancement of same-sex marriage equality. Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-A, took to twitter to tell the world his thoughts on this political outcome.
It is no shocking matter of Cathy’s views on the issue when in 2012 he said that same-sex marriage was “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.” Apparently he didn’t learn his lesson the first time, or did he?
Moments after tweeting the message, Cathy deleted the tweet from his personal account. Later that day, a spokesperson for Chick-fil-A released a statement saying, “He (Cathy) realized his views didn’t necessarily represent the views of all customers, restaurant owners and employees and didn’t want to distract them from providing a great restaurant experience.”
Our thoughts?
When will he learn? As president of a HUGE food service chain you should NOT be blasting your extreme opinions on a social network ESPECIALLY when it comes to such controversial issues. That is PR 101, the basics! Bravo to him for deleting and realizing the errors in his ways. The statement helps a little bit, but all in all, this incident is just another reminder to half his clientele to boycott him and his waffle fries. The statement definitely would have packed more of a punch if Cathy had said it (or even tweeted it) himself. Take note for the future, Chick-fil-A!
Taco Bell Gets Licked
On June 3, 2013, photos hit the web of a Taco Bell employee licking a stack of hard taco shells. The photo was from the employee’s personal page, however, it went viral within hours.
As the news and coverage expanded, Taco Bell finally stepped forward.
“When we learned of the situation we immediately contacted this restaurant’s leadership and although we believe it is a prank and the food was not served to customers, we are conducting a full scale investigation and will be taking swift action against those involved.”
Taco Bell swore the shells were used for “training purposes” only and did not come in contact with any consumers.
Our thoughts?
Gross! First, Taco Bell could have issued some kind of apology. They state that the food was only used for “training purposes” but that sounds like a lie. Since when do fast food chains use large quantities of real food to train their employees and not serve the public? Also, if you are going to make a statement don’t use verbiage like “although we believe” it makes you sound uninformed and guilty. No quiero Taco Bell! The best way to handle it would have been to release a simple statement apologizing for the situation, commenting on the dismissal of the employee and informing the public on how they plan to stop similar things from happening in the future.
Brand communication and public relations firm Articulon announces today that the agency ranks among the Triangle’s top 25 public relations firms as reported by the Triangle Business Journal. This is the eighth consecutive year Articulon has received this recognition. Cindy Stranad, APR founded Articulon to offer expertise in public relations, brand messaging, design, social media and integrated marketing.
With the Fourth of July just days passed, big brands were hoping to lure customers with an emotional pull based on values of patriotism and flag-waving emotion. As part of a brand survey—4,500 consumers evaluating 197 brands —Brand Keys, a consulting firm, conducted a “drill-down” to identify which for-profit brands are seen as more associated with the individual value of “patriotism.”