Self-Inflicted Brand Damage for Groupon and Kenneth Cole
Actor Timothy Hutton in the twilight of his career.
When I watched the now-controversial television commercial for deal-of-the-day website Groupon.com, along with millions of other people during the SuperBowl, my first thought was about actor Timothy Hutton. Has his career sunk to this low? I felt sorry for him. His career was finished by the TV spot. But it was his choice.
It was also the choice of Groupon.com, the company that trivialized Tibet’s oppression against China’s Communist regime, and dismissed human rights suffering in favor of a cheap attempt to promote the company’s discount restaurant deals.
Groupon.com has since pulled the ad.
“Our ads offended a lot of people,” admitted Groupon’s founder, Andrew Mason. The company’s other ads belittled the imperiled Amazon rain forests and the dwindling number of whales in favor of pushing forward its discount deals. Groupon was neither clever nor smart.
A few days earlier, fashion designer Kenneth Cole outraged many with a Twitter post that used the #Cairo hashtag that has been used by Twitter users for discussion of current developments in Egypt. It was Cole’s lame desperate attempt to advertise the company’s spring collection.
“Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http.//bit.ly/KCairo – KC.”
It made me wonder whether there are any grownups or anyone with any measurable intelligence at Kenneth Cole. Such lack of intellect and disregard, again, for human rights issues is not only reckless but brand-damaging. The company pulled the Twitter post but it will never go away in today’s digital era. Never.
No doubt someone at Kenneth Cole or its ad agency may claim to be a social media guru. It’s the latest craze to be a “SoMe guru,” no experience, savvy or accomplishments required. But the Cole Tweet wasn’t just in poor taste; it violated a Twitter policy for the use of hashtags on Twitter. Twitter’s help center says hashtags should be used, “only on Tweets relevant to the topic.”
“Crazy” is how someone at a much smarter and more sophisticated fashion brand labeled the Tweet by Kenneth Cole.
In both cases, apparent attempts to be cool or whatever by Groupon and Cole crashed and burned, wrecking corporate brand images.
And, in both cases, the companies attempted at first to try to explain it away, saying it was only lighthearted humor. Then, they faced the reality that they had inflicted devastating damage to their brands. Poor crisis management by both companies.
The takeaway … Social media is a powerful tool of communications for companies and organizations that must be used only with knowledge, experience and skill. Online social media can be unforgiving and is not a place for communications amateurs … or to be left to the current proliferation of digital snake oil salesmen who masquerade as “SoMe” gurus.
Related posts:
- How to Damage a Good Brand Image
- Self-Inflicted Damage, New Opportunities
- How to Salvage Toyota’s Brand Reputation
- How PR People Rebuff the Media, Risk Brand Image
- The Impact of Brand Journalism in the Digital Era
Category: Featured, Reputation management
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I’m glad to see other people had the same response to this ad that I did.