‘Boys will be boys’ to racist Corn Pops: How to react when controversy strikes
With social media giving rise to a crisis in the matter of minutes, knowing where you stand is more important than ever before, writes crisis comms expert Tony Jaques.
There ought to be a clear difference between “caving in to criticism” and “making a smart decision.” But that distinction sometimes gets blurred when organisations need to respond to potentially damaging issues.
Take the recent case when animal activists PETA complained about the packaging for Barnum’s Animal Crackers, which for more than 100 years has shown beasts behind bars on a circus train. Cookie-maker Nabisco has now redesigned the box to show the animals free in the wild.
It seemed like a win-win, but of course the Twittersphere had to have its say. Mashable headlined that the internet was divided on the issue, and highlighted tweets helpfully pointing out that the crackers are not actually animals, or suggesting that PETA won’t be satisfied until the crackers are made in the shape of tofu cubes. Or rather more rationally, arguing that PETA should maybe focus its efforts on mistreatment of real animals rather than wasting resources “stiff-arming Nabisco”.
Social media criticism? Like the poor, the perpetually outraged are always with us. With most criticism driven by bots.
Cave in to criticism? Ignore it. Tomorrow is just another day of complaint for the outraged.