Crises can come in many shapes and forms.
Crisis media management incidents are often considered to be those which involve significant injuries and death, cyber security attacks, natural disasters and environmental issues.
But there are other self-inflicted triggers which can lead to 24 hour news coverage, viral social media coverage and falling share prices.
Here are a few examples and how they can be avoided.
Social media humour
Social media has brought us numerous advantages. It allows brands to be social, has opened up communication channels and enables them to show their human side.
But it has also triggered many a crisis media management incident.
Ill-considered attempts at humour, as brands seek an edgier cheekier approach, have proved particularly damaging. New Zealand Police using gifs to discuss fatal car crashes and Virgin Trains responding to a customer complaint about sexism with a bit more sexism are some of the recent examples that spring to mind.
Just in case you missed it, here's the full gif from @nzpolice pic.twitter.com/w9hlX8A8R3
— Jessica Roden (@Jess_Roden) October 9, 2017
Wonderful to see that @virgin_trainsEC take complaints of rude and misogynistic behaviour seriously. Stunned. @EverydaySexism @VirginTrains pic.twitter.com/q26EdDoegR
— Emily Lucinda Cole (@EmilyLucindaRC) January 2, 2018
The key thing to remember is that what some people find humorous, others could find offensive.
But there is a place for humour when it is carefully thought out.
To prevent your ‘funny’ social media activity triggering a crisis, pause briefly before publishing and carry out a few simple checks:
*Has anyone else seen the post – how did they react? If there’s no-one else around consider testing it on your own private accounts first.
*Could people be offended by the post?
*Is there potential for your post to be interpreted differently?
*Is this right for our audience?
*Will the audience think what you think?
*Will people understand the humour?
The boss’s social media
Sometimes it is not the corporate social media accounts that cause the problems.
When Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, went on a misguided Twitter rant last year, it wiped $2 billion off his company’s shares, and created a huge amount of negative media and social media coverage.
Five lessons from Musk's costly Twitter meltdown
Other examples include Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary landing himself in a sexism storm after responding to a customer’s tweet with “Nice pic. Phwoaaarr!” and designer Kenneth Cole posting that the unrest in Cairo in 2011 had been triggered by the launch of his spring collection.
@aakritik @Claire_Phipps Nice pic. Phwoaaarr! MOL
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) October 21, 2013
There are, of course, many reasons why CEOs and other senior leaders should be on social media. It can help to raise the profile of the brand, position them as a thought leader and sector expert and it can be a great way of them displaying visible leadership during a crisis media management incident.
But, as we’ve demonstrated, there are clear pitfalls.
So how can these be avoided?
If your CEO is on Twitter you need to be sure they understand what they can and can’t say through some social media training, message development coaching and ongoing communications training. If they don’t have thick skin and are sensitive to criticism then social media may not be the right platform.
And if their social media activity is regularly resulting in bad publicity, it is probably time to invest in some social media training or get them to close their accounts.
Off-the-cuff comments
There have been plenty of examples of off-the-cuff comments in speeches and media interviews generating swathes of negative coverage and sending organisations into full crisis media management mode.
The ultimate example of this is Gerald Ratner and his “total crap” remark which wiped £500 million from the value of his company.
Other infamous examples included BP boss Tony Hayward CEO stating “I want my life back” during the Deepwater Horizon crisis; Nobel prizewinning biochemist Tim Hunt’s “the trouble with girls” comment during a speech to senior female scientists and science journalists in South Korea; and Andy Street, the managing director of John Lewis, describing France as “sclerotic, hopeless and downbeat” shortly before launching a French-language website.
John Lewis boss: ‘France is sclerotic, hopeless and downbeat … it’s finished’ http://t.co/gXn2r0tqwH
— The Guardian (@guardian) October 3, 2014
What Tim Hunt's sexism tells us about the real 'trouble with girls' in labs http://t.co/wcnNWRbzzA pic.twitter.com/0a6uUWFae1
— CBC News (@CBCNews) June 12, 2015
So what can you do to minimise this risk?
Well, media training and presentation training may help them avoid making damaging comments in the first place and if not, they will need the skills to handle the media afterwards.
Ask senior leaders to run through any public statements they will be making and suggest changes if necessary. And make sure you know where they are speaking, even if there are not expected to be any journalists present.
If they do say something damaging, you need to be in a position to respond quickly to control the fallout.
Marketing
Ill-thought-out advertising campaigns and promotions also have the potential to send an organisation spiralling towards a crisis.
Take Mastercard, for example, which found itself accused of trivialising the plight of starving children when it launched a campaign to donate 10,000 meals to starving children every time footballers Neymar Jr and Lionel Messi scored a goal.
Worst PR own goal ever. If you’ve got the money.... just buy the f***ing food. How sad that the fate of a starving child rests in the foot of a multi million pound player.
— Justin Lockwood (@Lockers75) June 1, 2018
Another brand which experienced a reputational crisis triggered by its marketing was H&M after it used a black child to model a hooded top with the slogan ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’. It was a move which saw popstars refuse to work with it and even riots in some stores.
And Bloomingdales was accused of encouraging rape after it released an ad with the slogan ‘Spike your best friend’s eggnog when they’re not looking’.
We heard your feedback about our catalog copy, which was inappropriate and in poor taste. Bloomingdale's sincerely apologizes.
— Bloomingdale's (@Bloomingdales) November 10, 2015
How can this be avoided?
Avoid sexism, racism and stereotyping. Edgy and controversial content can spark interest but it has to be carefully considered and well judged.
And there needs to be a strong understanding of the audience with plenty of testing with focus groups.
Responding slowly
Arguably one of the worst things an organisation can do with an emerging issue is to act slowly.
It has the potential to turn a relatively small amount of negative coverage into a full-blown reputation crisis.
The social media rumour mill spreads at breakneck speed and allowing others to fill the void and tell the story sees organisations rapidly lose control.
When celebrity chef Jamie Oliver found himself at the centre of a ‘cultural appropriation’ storm, it took him days to respond. During that time, it had spread from social media, to traditional media and had even become a topic of debate on TV panel shows.
Silence allow row to boil over
Current thinking is that organisations have 15 minutes to respond to an emerging crisis, and some people have suggested it could be as little as nine minutes once something reaches Twitter.
Either way, time is clearly in short supply. That’s why organisations should have holding statements already prepared which can be quickly adapted to cover the specifics of a crisis incident.
An effective holding statement will buy an organisation some crucial time while it establishes exactly what has happened and will help to prevent the spread of speculation and rumour.
How to write a good crisis holding statement
*Download our FREE eBook to find out more about planning for a crisis. It includes a checklist to helping you identify the right spokesperson, messaging templates and a risk register to help you identify your organisation’s vulnerabilities.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 30 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
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