Chipotle: The Power of Social Media

Chipotle Mexican Grill recently took another blow to the chest after an actor complained about their food and said that it put him in the hospital. Jeremy Jordan an actor on the show "Supergirl" posted to his Instagram story, "I, as you can see, am in the hospital and I have fluids in my arm because the food did not agree with me and I almost died." The post collected thousands of likes, comments and shares and caused much havoc for the restaurant.

The post and the subsequent reaction was so impactful that the company's stocks dropped 2.7 percent the following Monday. The company responded and stated, "We were sorry to hear Jeremy was sick and were able to get in touch with him directly regarding where and when he ate" Chipotle has been in recovery mode for the last 2 years, since a norovirus outbreak caused a complete shutdown of the entire chain of restaurants. Chipotle has conducted an internal investigation and has come to the conclusion that whatever made the actor sick, did not come from the restaurant. According to Chipotle, there were no other reports of illness at the location Jeremy visited.

The way that the story spread so fast is an indication of how Social Media has impacted society and the Public Relations world. There wasn't much the company could do to stop the story from spreading. However, the company did do the right thing by contacting the individual directly and apologizing for the incident. It will be hard for Chipotle to fully recover from the string of health concerns it has faced over the years, but if they are strategic, they can use social media for their benefit. In the same way negative news spreads throughout social media, positive news and a rebranding can spread just as fast.

Star Wars: A PR Awakening

Star Wars is one of the largest and most profitable franchises in the world. So as you can imagine the long awaited video game, Star Wars Battlefront II, caused quite the commotion upon release. However, it wasn't received with all the glory that the developing company, Electronic Arts, had hoped. Instead, they were met with widespread criticism regarding their "micro-transaction"method for gameplay. Gameplayers who purchased the game at a price of $60, do not have access to the iconic characters in the Star Wars Franchise. Instead, they have to credit up to 40 hours of gameplay, or purchase the characters at a cost.

Star Wars Battlefront II Video Game

Obviously, this was not received well by the gaming community who felt that Electronic Arts were exploiting the community for their own greed. The Verge which is a popular News and Media network wrote on the controversy and stated, "while EA is encouraging players to pay money to essentially skip this process. Is the company just being nakedly hostile and money-grabbing?" Comments like this were posted all over Reddit, which is an online forum very popular with the gaming community. Electronic Arts decided to respond on the forum and soon realized that their response was not welcomed.

According to many customers of EA, the company does not do a great job listening to their consumers and taking their suggestions. EA chose to respond in a forum where there was a lot of animosity and frustration and their response which can be found here, did not come off as apologetic but was instead seen as a justification. This relates back to the course text when it says that PR is a two way process and listening to the customer is an important tool when handling a PR issue. EA has a history of doing the opposite of what their customers want in pursuit of more profits. Unfortunately, they will learn that the inability to listen to their base, will lead to a departure of their most valued supporters.

Perception is Reality

For many years, it has been a home tradition for many people to open a box of cereal and turn the box around to view the cartoons. comics or illustrations on the back. However, a recent cartoon printed on the back of a Kellogg's Corn Pops box has landed the company in some hot water. The Kellogg's box features a, "bunch of light-colored Corn Pops hanging out in a mall — while a darker-skinned Pop scrubs the floor and acts as a janitor. Pictures showing the offensive packaging surfaced on social media and prompted the company to respond." (New York Post)

Kellogg's Cartoon Ad

Kellogg's immediately jumped into damage control and sent out an apology message saying they were sorry and that the cartoon was being replaced and that new boxes were already being sent out to stores. This incident shows how important it is to be intentional about the message you are trying to convey. Even though Kellogg's most likely meant no offense with the cartoon that was printed, the perception that the public had was different. Sometimes, perception is reality and for a company as large as Kellogg's, the perception of the company and the values it upholds is critical to the sustainability of the company.

Public Relations is defined as, "a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics". (Seitel, 2017) In this instance, PR was used to admit that the company made a mistake and what course of action was being taken to remedy the situation. The company was also intentional about reaffirming their stance on diversity and how it has made them a better company. In other potential instances, PR can be used in a proactive manner to gain a better understanding of the public's sentiments and tailor communications to them in a way that takes these types of issues into consideration.

*Reference: Seitel, F. (2017). The Practice of Public Relations (13th ed.). N.p.: Pearson.