Throughout history, many brands have used controversial themes in their campaigns to generate chatter, attract more audiences, or simply because it’s part of their values. However, in recent years, a new phenomenon has emerged to handle and stop misogynistic, racist, and homophobic advertising. Cancel culture has come to remind us to be more careful than ever with what we say because there might be no going back.
Some associate this cultural phenomenon with words such as criticism, extremism, and censorship, since social networks tend to become a cruel medium when it comes to public opinion. On the other hand, some consider it a way to regulate obvious elements that transgress the integrity of a person or ethnic group and seek to ensure that there is no impunity in this type of case.
One of the latest targets of this phenomenon was Adidas which -due to its collaboration with Kanye West and the artist’s anti-Semitic and racist comments- lost around USD 246 million in profits. The American rapper is estimated to have lost USD 1.5 billion of his net worth due to his hateful remarks.
Another company that has been harshly punished is Balenciaga, after having promoted two campaigns that have been classified as pedophilic (Balenciaga Gift Shop -by photographer Gabriele Galimberti- and another campaign in collaboration with Adidas). The brand’s legal team has assured the damages caused by this incident have reached more than USD 25 million and experts assure this amount will grow the following quarter.
We need to re-evaluate our brands, be aware of the image we want to project, and learn about new narratives since some situations or behaviors that were considered correct a few decades ago…, are no longer so! There are communication errors that can be handled. Others can mean the fall of an empire.
In the event of a crisis caused by an inappropriate campaign that requires damage control, it would be important to consider the following steps:
- Check the panorama through Google Trends to understand the magnitude of the damage. The division by zones and countries will be a useful tool to control the harm. Acknowledging the mistake and empathizing will be essential, as will guarantee it won’t happen again and will provide the public opinion a tool to soften the crisis.
- Acting quickly will show the company is willing to generate a commitment where the damage caused is repaired and staff is also being trained.
- Lean on mass media that can provide a greater echo.
Marketing and advertising strategies require extensive research and critical thinking to prevent mistakes that can cost us a lifetime of work and sacrifice. With more than 4.62 million people in the world linked to different social networks, these steps are a powerful tool that can help us grow or -on the contrary- lead us to complete failure!
