6 Examples of Poor Communication Harming a Brand’s Reputation

In the digital age, with billions of people interacting via social media every day, poor communication can cost companies dearly, with negative exchanges potentially going viral in minutes, and hitting the headlines in hours. In this article, we look at six communication failures that dented some corporations’ image and what the brands did to overcome them.

1. Victoria’s Secret

In 2014, Victoria’s Secret ran an ad campaign using the slogan “The Perfect Body.” While the lingerie company explained that the slogan was a reference to its Body lingerie line, the accompanying image of 10 ultra-slim models implied to many that the “perfect body” was thin and flawless, an ideal that most of the female population could not safely achieve. Critics said that the campaign was damaging to women’s health and self-esteem, promoting unhealthy dieting and eating disorders.

Thirty-thousand consumers signed a petition calling for Victoria’s Secret to apologize and correct the offending advertisement. In response, the company switched its slogan to “A Body for Every Body,” though it retained the same image. This pacified many, who called it a step in the right direction.

2. McDonald’s

In 2017, the fast-food giant launched an ill-fated marketing campaign in the United Kingdom, featuring a young boy talking with his mother. Asked what the boy’s deceased father was like, the mother lists his hobbies and traits, pointing out that Filet-O-Fish sandwiches were his favorite, too.

The ad sparked a wave of criticism on social media, culminating in accusations that McDonalds had tried to “exploit grief to sell sandwiches.” Some commenters, who had in fact lost a parent as a child, were incredulous at the notion that their pain could somehow be lessened by a McDonald’s meal.

McDonald’s pulled the ad campaign, issuing a statement explaining that it had never intended to cause upset, and apologizing for disappointing its customers.

3. Adidas

In the same year as McDonald’s gaffe in the United Kingdom, Adidas also had an epic lapse in judgement on the other side of the Atlantic, heading an email to customers participating in the Boston Marathon with, “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon.”

In the context of any virtually any other sporting event in the world, this comment would have been completely innocuous. However, this came after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, when three people were killed, with more than 250 injured. Many found Adidas’ comment extremely offensive. Adidas immediately issued an apology, but the oversight triggered a ferocious backlash.

4. HMV

Once the UK’s top entertainment retailers, HMV hit considerable financial difficulties as consumers switched from CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays to digital channels. In the wake of a massive wave of redundancies, disgruntled employees from the company’s head office took command of HMV’s Twitter account, posting sensitive tweets, with managers scrambling to try to get them to stop.

There followed a slew of critical tweets from rogue ex-employees, describing loyal staff as being “executed” and saying that the brand they loved was “being destroyed.” Management struggled for some to get the feed closed down, finally putting an end to the embarrassing and damaging tweets.

The breach came in the wake of the company laying off 190 workers in the UK, the brand already attracting criticism for the way it treated its staff. Deloitte was appointed as the administrator of HMV, and the company was subsequently acquired.

5. Twitter

In 2014, Anthony Noto, then the CFO of Twitter, accidentally tweeted what was meant to be a direct message to a colleague. The tweet expressed his desire to acquire another company, which was at the time a common activity for Twitter, which bought out numerous smaller firms that had developed desirable features in the micro-blogging sphere.

Noto’s tweet was quickly deleted, though not before it had been screen-grabbed by more than 8,700 followers, sparking intense speculation over which firm Mr. Noto was alluding to.

6. UPS

The line between dark humor and offensiveness can be incredibly challenging to tread, particularly on social media, as UPS discovered to its chagrin in 2018. In a tweet, the UPS Store told parents not to worry if their child addressed a letter to the North Pole, assuring them that they could leave it to the postal delivery service to do the shredding for them. The tweet was subsequently deleted, though not before attracting a barrage of criticism for crushing holiday cheer.

Originally published at https://carltonjames.org on December 13, 2021.