All companies dread causing a bad buzz and attracting the wrath of internet users.
Or worse, facing a real PR crisis that affects the company online—and offline.
So, what is a bad buzz, and how does a company go from this stage to a crisis?
Once the bad buzz gets bigger and lasts longer, it becomes a crisis. There are three levels of severity.
The Passing Crisis
A passing crisis has little or no direct negative impact on the organization. The bad buzz disappears as quickly as it appeared and is a temporary phenomenon.
This was the case when McDonald’s Twitter account got hacked in 2017. As a result, an external source was able to post a political tweet directed at Donald Trump, though McDonald’s deleted the tweet and issued an apology.
Internet users didn’t take long to react. However, this bad buzz only lasted a few hours, as the brand immediately apologized.
Reese’s also had a near miss with their chocolate Christmas tree product launch in 2015. Internet users quickly called them out on their misshapen Christmas Tree treats. They took action by launching the sassy hashtag #AllTreesAreBeautiful and were able to turn their blunder into an entertaining storyline.
The Medium-sized Crisis
It can last several days and has a deeper impact than the passing crisis!
A medium-sized crisis often involves significant changes within the company.
In 2017, Dove was lynched on Twitter for its shower gel ad, which contained this controversial element:
Internet users quickly called for a boycott, with the hashtag #BoycottDove having thousands of reactions. The brand was then forced to withdraw its ad.
Unfortunately, the internet reacts quickly without sorting out fake news from reality.
Dove apologized and removed the post, but that didn’t calm things down. The young black woman starring in the ad spoke to The Guardian, defending Dove, saying it was misleading and misread.
The Serious Crisis
This final crisis can significantly impact the company and its brand image for several years.
A famous example dated from 2020 when Pepsi released a controversial ad starring Kendall Jenner. She offers a policeman a can of Pepsi during a Black Lives Matter protest to diffuse the situation. It was seen as trivializing the movement around George Floyd’s death and epitomizing the “white savior” trope.
Discover Examples of Bad Buzz
There are several types of bad buzz depending on the initial trigger:
Reputational bad buzz: The company commits an act that damages its image and causes it to lose the trust of its customers.
Controversy bad buzz: The company publishes offensive, provocative, or discriminatory content that creates controversy.
Activist bad buzz: The company adopts practices that consumers, NGOs, or associations denounce.
False rumor bad buzz: The company spreads a misleading message containing falsified information.
Internal bad buzz: The company’s employees spread negative or unflattering confidential information or behave in a way that damages its image.
Over to You!
COOLEST MONKEY IN THE JUNGLE - H&M
In 2018 the clothing brand H&M released a sweatshirt with the slogan, “COOLEST MONKEY IN THE JUNGLE,” worn by a young black boy.
Internet users denounced the racist nature of the image. They saw it as an unwelcome association between a child with black skin and a monkey.
Model Stephanie Yeboah was the first to react on Twitter: “Whose idea was it at H&M to make a little black boy wear a sweatshirt that says ‘Coolest monkey in the jungle’?”
Millions of reactions from internet users and African-American personalities followed, calling for a boycott.
Answer:
It’s a controversy bad buzz triggered by a photo deemed racist and offensive to the black community.
The Galaxy Note 7 - Samsung
While the Samsung brand was in the middle of a campaign to release its new model - the Galaxy Note 7, several users shared photos of their charred devices: some of the phones’ batteries were defective and had caught fire.
A few weeks later, Samsung asked all the owners of this model to turn them off and not to charge them anymore.
Internet users outdid others in creativity by sharing edited ad posters online.
Answer:
It’s a reputational buzz: Users in these highly-connected communities took this announcement as an admission of the device’s deficiency, and Samsung's stock lost 7% on the stock market.
Silver as a Fake Cure for COVID - Jim Bakker
There have been many false claims on the internet regarding fake cures for COVID. A lawsuit was filed against The Jim Bakker Show after it promoted that a silver solution could be used to kill COVID cells.
Answer:
It’s a false rumor bad buzz: False claims about medical treatments can cause a bad stir online and harm people’s health. The FTC and FDA have had to take legal action against several companies promoting deceptive COVID treatments during the pandemic.
The Crisis at Deditex
Michael and Deditex faced some bad buzz.
Read the case study document to learn more about the crisis he encountered.
Now that you know more about Deditex’s crisis, assess its severity. We will find some answers together in the following chapters.
Let’s Recap!
A bad buzz can turn into a PR (& even legal) crisis. It all depends on your ability to understand the origin and severity of the problem.
To do this:
Try to understand what triggered the bad buzz.
Once you have identified the crisis, you must assess its severity and act accordingly. So let’s look at that in the next chapter.
