COMPLACENT MARKETING
Power In The Hands Of
Consumers
By Diana Obath
E
very brand understands that the
power of the brand has been ceded
to the consumers thanks to social
media. Lately companies are finding
themselves in unexpected social media
crisis situations. From breastfeeding
in public, using the washroom, claims
of racism, eviction from a flight to no
chicken at KFC.
No brand is immune in this age of smart
phones and citizen journalism. No shop
is too small not to find themselves in a
discussion on Facebook and no personality
is too big for social media users to shy
away from trolling. The president, deputy
president, and even governors have found
themselves subjects of Facebook and
Twitter conversations that have morphed
into news items, and I am not talking
about matters of public interest!
Facebook users in Kenya broke out into
an uproar when a lady posted on one
Facebook group that she was evicted from
a restaurant for breast feeding her baby
without covering herself. Within hours,
a little-known restaurant was making
headlines and trending on three social
media platforms. Women organizations
were planning to stage a protest and MPs
were considering passing a law for the
establishment of breastfeeding stations in
the city.
Facebook users who had no idea where
the restaurant is located or what exactly
happened had formed an army and a
manual dictating what is acceptable and
what is not. The situation escalated so
quickly that by the time the restaurant
responded with a statement, the damage
had been long done.
Starbucks recently announced a change in
its washroom policy when it was caught
flat footed in a crisis involving the use of
its toilets. Two videos went viral after a
No brand is immune in this age of smart phones
and citizen journalism. No shop is too small not to
find themselves in a discussion on Facebook and
no personality is too big for social media users
to shy away from trolling. The president, deputy
president, and even governors have found them-
selves subjects of Facebook and Twitter conver-
sations that have morphed into news items, and I
am not talking about matters of public interest!
08 MAL24/18 ISSUE
black American was denied the use of the
washroom because he did not purchase
anything while sitting at a Starbucks
outlet in Philadelphia. The manager went
as far as calling the police on him and his
friend and the two were hand cuffed at the
restaurant and arrested.
Shortly after the video of the arrests went
viral, a black man at an outlet in California
posted a video on Facebook claiming he
was denied use of the washroom because
he hadn’t purchased anything while a
white man was allowed to use it. The
social media uproar caused the Starbucks
Chairman to publicly apologize. He also
stated that the outlet chain would allow
people to use its washrooms even if they
didn’t buy anything, though it was not
the in tention of the branch to have the
washrooms being used as public toilet.
When any communications person is
writing a crisis communications plan for
a restaurant – say in one of the scenarios
presented above, you would not think
about including aspects around the use
of the toilet and a breastfeeding mother.
Usual considerations would be made
to include scenarios of injury or food
poisoning for example.
The emphasis on including social media
and response time as well as a chain of
response for online platforms as part of
the crisis communications agenda in any
marketing or brand communications plan
cannot be over emphasized. It becomes
the difference between a recovering brand
pulse after a crisis and a brand that may
not recover.