Position Paper 1: Crisis Public Relations

 Public relations scandals or crises are not something that companies ever want to encounter but they should always be prepared for how they would deal with them should they arise. This is important because the way that they respond will be etched into the minds of many.  Companies should be retaining as many customers as possible while also ensuring that they learn from their mistakes and use them to make their companies stronger and more aware. 

In February of 2019 Gucci, the designer retail brand, found itself trending for all the wrong reasons after people took to the internet to voice their displeasure for a new sweater being advertised and sold. The sweater was solid black with a neck that up and cover the model’s mouth, with a whole left her lips to stick through. Her actual lips were sitting inside of another large set of lips in red. The sweater was to be a part of the winter 2018 line.  The sweater carried a price tag of $890. 

With this incident taking place during black history month many were unwilling to give companies a pass on their actions. The company was quick to make a statement in which they said, “We consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld, respected, and at the forefront of every decision we make. We are fully committed to increasing diversity throughout our organization and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond.” Many seemed dissatisfied with the company’s response seeing as they allowed such as sweaters to be brought to the market. They said they see diversity as a fundamental value that they respect, but the sweater was created. Many believed that seeing such a piece being sold truly showed her little representation that the company had seeing as this piece had to come across the tables of many departments before making it to the Gucci website or their brick-and-mortar stores and no one saw fit to see that they did not happen. This incident caused common people and celebrities to say boycott the company and decide to no longer support the company. 

In January of 2018, H&M found themselves in the hot seat over on their advertisement photos with a black male child model making its way to the forefront of the internet and causing an uproar. The 5-year-old wore a green sweatshirt that read, “coolest monkey in the jungle,” in all white letters. The child’s name is Liam Mango, and both of his parents are Kenyan immigrants. People of color took offense to the child wearing the sweatshirt because of the stereotype and racial connotation of comparing people of African descent to monkeys. 

After the matter began trending on various social media platforms, on the eighth of January the company issued an apology for the offensive nature of the sweatshirt on the young child but did not apologize for posting the ad in the first place. H&M went on to say that they remove the online ad from their online store. Just hours after their apology was issued media outlets found the ad still running without the child's face on them. Within the next day, ads were still being found online in European and Spanish countries. 

After receiving criticism for their apology and not removing the ad in its entirety from all their online stores H&M released a second statement on the matter. In the statement that they posted on the official website it said, “We agree with all the criticism that this has generated- we have got this wrong and we agree that, even if unintentional, passive or casual racism needs to be eradicated wherever it exists.” I will say that H&M did well to finally take responsibility for their part in the mistakes that they made. 

Apparently, there were intense boycotts that took place in South Africa which resulted in some of their stores there closing temporarily. Financially, the company saw an increase in unsold items for their first of seven percent for their first quarter. From December 2017 through February 2018 the company’s operating profits decreased 62%. After the incident, Grammy award-winning artist, the Weekend, severed his business ties with the company. Lebron James, an NBA superstar, also spoke out on the incident, “You got us all wrong! And we ain’t going for it!”

These two companies still have lots to learn in regards to public relations and being conscious of the perception their products can have despite their initial intentions. People are becoming more conscious of how and where they spend their money and speaking out when companies are in the wrong. Especially with Generation X, we are not a generation to stand by and let things of this nature happen and still pour into said brands as we make our way onto the economic scene.