Crisis Corner: Responding to a Frightening Digital Dilemma
*Disclaimer: Our firm does not represent Walmart but is examining their communications response in our crisis series.
Have you ever read about a large, public crisis and wondered how you would have responded? Learn from our crisis communications team and join us each month as we break down real-life scenarios, walk through key insights and learn appropriate response tactics. This month we break down Walmart's scary webpage faux paus, just days before the second biggest retail holiday of the year – Halloween.
Challenge
Image Source: Twitter @ItsWithaY
WHO: Walmart
WHAT: An online shopper tweeted about Walmart's offensive “Fat Girl Costumes” and the retail giant addressed the issue seven days later after media inquiries haunted HQ inboxes – eek!
WHEN: Halloween 2014
WHERE: Online
WHY: Walmart's “smart” website technology recategorized certain costumes as “Fat Girl Costumes” based on search algorithms and failed to catch the error until Jezebel broke a story, creating a real-life nightmare of negative national media attention just days before Halloween
Response
The original tweet from a shopper was deprioritized, with Walmart using a canned response and ignoring the simmering cauldron.
Seven days later, the cauldron boiled over when the Jezebel story broke. Walmart responded within two hours after numerous media outlets requested interviews, burying the offensive website section six feet under.
The digital team prioritized directly addressing customer outrage on Twitter with: “This should never have been on our site. It is unacceptable, and we apologize. We worked quickly to remove this.”
Walmart's E-commerce Director of Public Relations released a statement acknowledging their mishap to media: “This never should have been on our site. It’s unacceptable and we apologize. As soon as we were notified about it this morning, our teams began immediately to remove it from our site and also to ensure it never happens again.”
Takeaways
When dealing with a hair-raising reputation management issue, don’t turn into a pumpkin before you have a chance to respond.
The faster you act, the less impact the event will have on your reputation. Because Walmart took action and responded swiftly, they suffered only one day of bad media coverage which was quickly diffused by a prompt response. However, this wouldn’t have even been an issue if the initial tweet sent by a disgruntled online shopper was taken more seriously.
Sometimes “the right choice” doesn’t exist – it's about making “the less bad choice.” With this management of choices, Walmart chose to take action quickly but with a small course of action – releasing a statement. It worked, but they could have considered a bigger gesture to regain trust like a CEO apology reinforcing their values or partnering with a body-positive or body-neutral organization on a line of size-inclusive Halloween costumes for next year’s trick-or-treating. They weathered the storm, but did they rebuild loyal brand advocates?
This is an important lesson in timing and if Halloween has taught us anything, it's to escape danger as fast as you can. Walmart was clearly prepared and had a well-trained team ready to deploy statements. Although they missed the initial warning flag on Twitter, the company avoided a crisis of apocalyptic proportions. Something tells us sales probably remained favorable that year and the company learned a better way to monitor website storefronts and customer complaints on social media.