“Beware of Saga roast beef”. That is the quote that went around campus my sophomore year that put the campus dining hall under fire. Allegedly a student took a picture of a “rat” that had been cooked in the roast beef at lunch. Being a millennial- college student, they took their findings to social media posting a picture quoting “Beware of Saga roast beef”. By dinner, it was widespread campus news that there was a “rat” in the roast beef. Whether you believed it or not, between the caption and the photo, many kids lost their trust the campus Dining hall. 5 hours is all it took for the only campus cafeteria to have lost its reputation with students. That’s the power of viral media.
Before the impact of the internet, word of mouth was a great way to promote, advertise or criticize a product or company. People are more inclined to believe something from someone they know, that is why word of mouth marketing was so effective. It can reach a large audience regardless of age, race or gender. Now fast forward to the 90s. The internet has taken off and changed the marketing and communications world forever.
With the arrival of the internet, came a new term “viral”. This is when something is online and it has reached a MASSIVE audience i.e. millions. Before this point when something was generating “buzz” it was localized by town or a county. With the introduction of the internet, buzz can cross states lines and country borders. As great as this ability seems for someone in the communications or marketing world, it has created a double edge sword. Just as easy as it is for positive information to reach an audience its almost easier for negative information to reach audiences as well.
There have been several online scandals that went viral that have hurt organizations image. These scandals can organization is a position that make it hard to recover from. In 2015, Starbucks was a part of a viral tweet hashtag #MerryChristmasStarbucks counting 474,000 mentions over the week, because of their “Anti-Christmas” cups. In one week, almost half a million-people complained on twitter through one hashtag. One man took it upon himself to post a video on Facebook to rant about the Anti- Christmas situation titling it,” Starbucks REMOVED CHRISTMAS from their cups because they hate Jesus.” He posted this on Thursday on by early Monday it had been viewed over 11 million times.
If this situation was through word of mouth, their still would have been complaining, but there would not have been as strong of a community like bond formed. With viral tweets people are physically seeing pictures and tweets of other unsatisfied customers and feel more inclined to join. With one click that tweet is sent across the web reaching anyone that has access to the internet.
In 2009, Domino’s had a viral video disaster, when 2 employees released a video of them violated health codes while preparing food. They” prepared sandwiches for delivery while putting cheese up his nose, nasal mucus on the sandwiches.” Per the New York Times. In days, the video had more than a million views and was a reputation disaster for Domino’s. That is the power of the internet’s ability to make things go viral. A video that might have reach an audience by people talking about it can spread to million in a couple days. Both situations impacted the company due to the viral presence they had.
On the contrary, would news be spread as rapidly if it was a positive viral video? Studies show that is not the case. According to BBC,” there's some evidence that people respond quicker to negative words.” This simply states today’s audience is more inclined to react to a negative headline than a positive.
It is important that organizations are prepared to deal with the threat of a negative viral scandal because the impact can be detrimental. Going back to my two examples above, the organizations handled their “fame” in a different way due to how bad their image was damaged. Starbucks, having to deal with customers that simply wanted more Christmas spirit in a coffee cup chose to do a press release stating,
“Creating a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity is one of the core values of Starbucks, and each year during the holidays the company aims to bring customers an experience that inspires the spirit of the season,” the company wrote in a press release. “Starbucks will continue to embrace and welcome customers from all backgrounds and religions in our stores around the world.”
The press released allowed the company to present their intentions to the audience and try to keep customers happy. On the other hand, Domino’s had to completely do a public image revamp to regain customer trust. Their first steps were firing the 2 employees, and Domino’s spokesperson released a statement as well. This was an attempt to try to isolate this issue so customers know that this is not something that Domino’s condones. The health department came in and discarded all open containers as well, to ensure public safety of tainted product. “if you think it’s not going to spread, that’s when it gets bigger,” said Scott Hoffman, the chief marketing officer of the social-media marketing firm Lotame.
Today over 3 billion people and counting have access to the internet. With this being said, organizations should aware of the impact that the media can have. One negative viral video can tarnish an organizations image with the public. For a company that is trying to appeal to target audiences this is important to keep in mind because it is hard to gain back the trust of millions of people. These organizations success depends on loyal customers, stockholders, investors i.e. and bad publicity can impact those. The viewers are in control. We are the ones liking, forwarding and sharing media that is distributed across the web. We have the power to destroy an organizations reputation with just one click.
BBC - Future - Psychology: Why bad news dominates the headlines. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2017, from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140728-why-is-all-the-news-bad
Clifford, S. (2009, April 15). Video Prank at Domino’s Taints Brand. Retrieved April 02, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/business/media/16dominos.html
Moyer, J. W. (2015, November 09). Starbucks ‘removed Christmas from their cups because they hate Jesus,’ Christian says in viral Facebook video. Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/09/starbucks-removed-christmas-from-their-cups-because-they-hate-jesus-christian-says-in-viral-facebook-video/?utm_term=.65c2aa75efcf
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