Big Mac? Tasteless.

McDonald’s made the mistake of toying with tragedy.

Advertisements were spotted (as seen blow) that attempt to play on the lighter side of depression, relating it to the Big Mac. Big Mistake.

The world-renowned fast food chain claims that it was all an error in ad processing, and that the advertisement hit the streets before it had been finalized and approved.

According to a spokesperson, McDonalds absolutely does not believe that depression should be trivialized.

What can be done during a mistake like this for a company as huge as McDonalds?

-Apologize. No matter what has happened, offer your condolences with those who have been offended or affected as quickly as possible. McDonald’s response was factual to their disconnection of the incident and closed with their sincere regrets.

-Have those who made the mistake admit it. Lucky for McDonalds, they got on this right away and the president of the ad house quickly issued a statement to The Huffington Post that it had no approval from McDonalds to print the advertisement.

-Take them down. Quick. The tasteless advertisement only appeared in the Massachusetts Bay area. Upon notification of the incident, McDonalds successfully had every ad pulled.

McDonalds had a phenomenal response, what else would be expected of the fast food super giant? Even Perez Hilton recognized that it was merely a slip-up.

 

 Their highest concern now should be the close speculation of their advertising. This advertisement went viral, another one would be epic. As with all crises, that close eye may very well be the type of attention that McDonald’s would love to have.

Here’s a video highlighting more advertising flubs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMpTiSd-Ugc

Brand Distrust: Do the numbers mean everything?

Do fancy letters and the science behind advertising really matter?

Most consumers claim that they are persuaded most by the reports that they receive from their friends and family members. Truth be told, I would answer the question the same way. These numbers are displayed in the North American Technographics Online Benchmark Survey.

No one wants to choose a brand over the word of someone that they trust. But this forces me to beg the question, why do they trust them to make their purchasing decisions?

Mashable makes a noteworthy comment on the findings, concluding that “pull” advertising is much more important than ever in history. The traditional “push” advertising by mere force is losing its effectiveness.

A recommendation sounds like it is something consciously examined in a case by case evaluation. From firsthand experience, I don’t believe that is really how we are sold.

Persuasion takes place when someone is browsing and their friend comments “that looks so cute!” or “I really wanted to try that!” It is spur of the moment and inspired by the environment that we are in.

Advertising effectiveness is defined by Small Business Chron as:

-Reach
-Sales and Profits
-Brand Awareness

The truth is, as Brand Strategy Insider details, that as it becomes easier to monitor the growth of your brand, the inspiration for that growth is sometimes harder to map. (Just last week, Google launched a new app on Mobile Advertising results.)

Brand awareness plays a key role in that decision making roll than we think. What was your friend looking at? What were they considering? Are you seeking to be cutting edge and impress that person?

Return on Investment is unpredictable, and this current reliance upon recommendations makes it even more difficult to know if your advertising is doing its job or not. In a time where advertising is under speculation it calls companies to be even more loyal to their product/brand integrity. But it’s certainly not the end, and the old saying that knowledge is power is steady as ever.

To learn a little more on Ad Tracking, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zU6cRnRBxk

Crisis Leadership

Have what it takes to handle a crisis? Watch this and you will!

When Life Gives You Lemons… LuluLemon faces product recall.

 

Lululemon Athletica is a high class fitness brand geared toward yoga and running. Their products are known for the technology of their signature breathable fabrics. The company was started in 1998 as a response to the surge of women participating in sports.

 

All of their products are designed for extreme quality, and they offer a five year guarantee for anything bought at one of their stores from the date of purchase.

 

It was recently discovered that their products seem to be showing a little bit more than desired. It’s been revealed that their tight fitting yoga pants are see-through, creating an extremely awkward situation when caught in a compromising yoga position.

 

Lululemons appropriate response was to recall their product, and it has been expensive.  With the loss accounting for about 17%  of their stock of pants. Their monetary loss is said to be about $6 million. All pants purchased after March 1, 2013 are available for recall with no questions asked.

 

Unfortunately this accidental sheer introduction has shed light upon Lululemon’s labor policies, and the consequences of going cheap. Their previous high standards helped them to reach a monumental gain in profits the year before, of 31%.

 

Globally their sock has already seen a 3.5% drop compared to last year’s soaring numbers.

 

Lululemon’s response to this crisis needs to be proactive in their response to this crisis. Their entire brand depends upon the fact that their products are made from high quality materials—and with customers paying a high price they will be angry if they aren’t receiving it. Here are a couple suggestions for how they could better maintain their image

 

1. They need to be proactive in revealing their factory outlets. It’s better for them to say where their products are coming from than for news sources to be revealing it.
2. They shouldn’t maximize the problem  by creating  situations like THIS
3. They should remain cautious about their newer products during the next few months, especially when working with new suppliers.

Here’s a video that has some great responses from loyal customers and a good outlook of the entire situation.

JAWS this Spring Break: Florida deals with 1000s of sharks

Scary situation.
Several beaches along the coast of Florida near Palm beached have been closed due to a wave of thousands of sharks migrating past.

Seemingly aware of their intimidating presence, the sharks reportedly have been spotted a mere 30 feet from the shoreline.  

According to researchers at Florida Atlantic University, there have been approximately 15,000 sharks migrating south in recent weeks.

What do these high alerts mean for students spending their spring break in Florida? According to lifeguards, it means that everyone is out of the water.

City leaders response to the uncertainty of the animals behavior are wise to be aware of the perceptual danger of sharks in the area. Shutting down the beaches as a safety precaution is costly but necessary when compared to the danger of a potential shark attack.

“When you start seeing fins in the water and they come closer to the beach, you’re whistling, getting people out of the water and putting up the double red flags,” 

Vacationers will simply have to enjoy the warm weather by the pool and wait out their natural migration. Unfortunately for the local areas, they will have to wait it out as migration is likely to last for another week or two.

On the brighter side of the situation, scientists are taking advantage of the migration situation and have successfully tagged the first Great White Shark. It is believed that this research will aid in the prevention of the Great White Shark extinction.

Check out a video about the beach closures and shark migration here: http://bit.ly/YgcTSe

We’d be lucky with horsemeat: Salmonella Outbreak in American Beef

Recently various European hamburger sellers have had multiple product recalls and widespread horror (read more about it here). The situation has not reached the United States, though now it seems that we would be lucky to have it!

Cr

Horsemeat is NOT dangerous to eat, and merely poses emotional disturbance with the unexpected switch from moo to mare.

Americans have bigger things to fear- like Salmonella. Sixteen people in five different states have now fallen ill from poisoning due to raw ground beef.

 

Combined Animal Feeding Opperations are supposedly the cause of the outbreak, making people worried that US soil does not grant that their beef is safe. Though the outbreak has a is supposed to have a single source, a restaurant in Detroit, it’s not quite time for people to be scared.

Check out this video from the Huffington Post.

Consumers need to know where they are getting their products from until this case is over- and until then, those providing meat products should proclaim their defense during this uncertainty.

The Center For Disease Control offers more information on the outbreaks that have currently taken place.

Celebrity President: A leader with connections.

Presidents with monotone voices and less than appealing personalities are out. To be a trendy president these days, you have to keep up with the best.

This weekend, Obama took a 3 day golf getaway in Florida with Tiger woods, the controversial golf king.

 

From the time of his marital infidelity Tiger suffered many major endorsement losses as well as a faltering career. Nike was one of few to stand by him, view their reaction video here.

Sure, they are both mixed race golf players. Obama is well known as a family man, and his image has greatly benefited from that outlook, so their random connection begs the question:
So who and what is this about?

Woods has clearly been recreating his image slowly, his recent wins are encouraging for his career, and as for his endorsements, while he is no longer the top ranking athlete IN THE WORLD, he is still among the top three. A relationship with Obama regardless of the past creates an image of peace and potentially forgiveness for Woods’ image.

One month since inauguration, Obama clearly has nothing to lose.

Is the president seeking to rename Woods as a champion regardless of his previous reputation?

Or does he think that it will 1 up his celebrity name to spend time with Woods?

Either way, he is proving that he is serious about his golfing hobby so maybe this will help him when he comes under scrutiny for his favorite pastime.

 

So Hungry I Could Eat a Horse… at Burger King?

Burger King has recently been receiving extreme scrutiny for having a relationship with with a food processing company that had traces of horse meat in it. Numerous avenues have allegedly reported that the DNA was discovered in their burgers.   For more on the story go to  http://bit.ly/YpwrG0

Say it ain’t so!
According to the LA times (http://lat.ms/WDfskp) Burger King states  those traces of equine were never sold, and never made it into their products.

A newsroom hay-day (get it?)

With meme’s floating around like this and news sources like CNN writing puns about the company’s unfortunate circumstances in their article “Neigh it ain’t so: Mare’s the beef?” (http://cnnmon.ie/WEkPNe) Burger King has had some major cleaning up to do.

The King did not hesitate, they said it first.
They started the conversation by notifying the media that their relationship with the supplier was over. Speedy work!

When Humiliated, be humble.
BK’s statements took complete blame for the circumstances, even though they claim to never have sold meat from Silvercrest. Their integrity seems to be paying off, and informed publics seem to be generally unconcerned. It helps that the incident took place overseas.

“We are deeply troubled by the findings of our investigation and apologise to our guests, who trust us to source only the highest quality 100 percent beef burgers. Our supplier has failed us and in turn we have failed you.” said Burger King’s vice president of global quality, Diego Beamonte.

They’re doing what they can in the face of a rough situation: they made no attempt to maintain a relationship with the food processing company (Thank goodness!)

They are maintaining their image: a visit to their website http://www.bk.com/ will prove to you that they are not looking back on the incident at all. You can’t even view a press release about it on the site. It is also fair to note that their current promotions are on chicken rather than their “beef” burgers.

They have made their promises, and can it is certain that they will be under close watch by their customers.

According to CBS they are taking it upon themselves to ensure that this doesn’t happen again, and providing DNA testing for all of their meat. http://cbsloc.al/U8qMGO

In the end, let’s make light of the situation.

Check out The Mix’s commentary here and get a good laugh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vMu3HJlF4Q

American Airlines: an Atrocious Accident?

Scandal over fonts, lines and styles. Is that all it takes to break a company? 
American Airlines (www.aa.com) has been experiencing hard times, along with many other airlines. In the midst of this, they have created an all new look, which effects all of their airplanes and also changed their logo. Many sources are claiming that their re-do is atrocious (like this blog from vanity fair http://vnty.fr/Sy45Kd). But when you look at that blog– scroll down. It doesn’t seem like customers really care about this  “disastrous” redesign at all.

Everyone has an opinion.
Strange but eye-catching, is their new look helping or hindering their situation?

It’s not like they had a choice about their redesign.
According to industry standard, they had to move on from their silver planes- so their new color scheme was inevitable.
Here, executives talk about how they have been serious about completely reframing their iconic design, and how much they believe in its new imagery http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-KD0PdI1Ek.

The bottom line? They’re name is being said.
Forbes goes as far as to congratulate American Airlines for their bold step forward (Forbes http://tinyurl.com/akte7y2)

American Airlines couldn’t have asked for more publicity from a so-called mistake! If they decide to change their design, so be it. Until then, they’re boldly displaying their new look on their website (http://tinyurl.com/b23y8vj) and are unafraid to talk about why they have made their changes.

Time will tell whether or not their big switch  was worth it, and polls seem to be essentially be 50/50 (http://bit.ly/YbMFGj)
The real question is whether they will follow through with their change and help their business stand the test of a tough economy.

Welcome!!

Welcome to my blog, KariTheLight! I previously used it to store articles I had written for the Liberty Champion. I plan to share my personal reflections as well as my professional work. Also, I will be blogging about crisis from the standpoint of a Communications major.
So take a look around and tell me what you think!