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.