The recent PR missteps of Toyota and BP are still fresh in the minds of consumers but how do they compare to some of the other major PR disasters of the past decade.
Bridgestone Tires
Starting as early as 1998, Bridgestone began receiving customer complaints about their Firestone brand tires. The complaints involved the tire treads' tendency to separate, often resulting in car accidents. The company refused to admit that there was a problem until after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation in 2000. Eventually after wavering in the press, Bridgestone accepted responsibility and announced the recall of 6.5 million tires.
Philip Morris Study
According to CNN, Philip Morris conducted a study in response to the Czech government's argument that the financial costs of smoking outweighed its benefits. The results of Philip Morris's study indicated that smoking actually resulted in a net gain of about $147 million, including savings of $30 million in health-care, pension and public-housing costs due to the early deaths of smokers. This caused a huge backlash and the tobacco giant cancelled all plans to conduct similar studies in other countries.
Merck Recalls Vioxx
Despite preliminary studies in 2000 that suggested Vioxx posed a potential heart health risk, Mereck executives chose to ignore these results and decided against further studies. Roughly four years later, the company was forced to recall the painkiller because of evidence that it may have caused heart attacks and cardiac deaths in thousands of its users. The recall turned into a huge scandal as reports came out that executives had known about the serious risk, yet continued to market the drug anyways. The company faced an SEC investigation and hundreds of lawsuits and ultimately Merck settled litigation for $80 million.
Cartoon Network Ad Campaign
Cartoon Network's guerilla advertising campaign to promote their hit show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", which involved magnetic light-up signs that were placed randomly throughout Boston, created a lot of noise, however it was not positive as it caused a bomb scare. The mysterious signs lacked any explanation and city residents believed they were a dangerous threat. Police were inundated by phone calls, bomb squads were deployed, and parts of the subway system were shut down for a period of time. The head of Cartoon Network eventually resigned after taking blame for approving the stunt, and the two men who were deemed physically responsible for putting up the devices faced criminal charges for the hoax.
GM, Chrysler and Ford Auto Bailout
As the CEOs of GM, Chrysler and Ford were reaching their hands out and asking for a $25 billion bailout, they travelled to Washington via private jets. This caused a massive outcry of public ridicule from the press and public.
KFC's Grilled Chicken Product Launch
As part of the launch of KFC's new grilled chicken, the company learned firsthand the power of an endorsement from Oprah. After Oprah plugged the product on her show and promoted a coupon for a free sample of the grilled chicken on her website, KFC restaurants nation-wide were flooded with customers demanding their free chicken. Many restaurants weren't prepared to meet the demand, and hundreds of people walked away angry. The company later issued rainchecks to disgruntled customers, but the fiasco still earned it the #1 spot in Adweek's list of the most-memorable product launches of the year.
Domino's Employees Become Infamous on YouTube
Domino's learned firsthand the power of social media after two Domino's Pizza employees posted videos of themselves doing disgusting things to food that they were getting ready to send out. The results were catastrophic due in large part to Domino's waiting two days to respond. During their delay nearly one million people viewed the videos on YouTube and simultaneously blogs, forums and Twitter were ablaze with discussion of the incident. The company responded by firing the two employees and issuing an apology via YouTube. According to the New York Times, the damage was already done as consumer perception of the brand turned negative within hours and online forums continued to discuss the videos, which were cut, re-worked, and re-posted hundreds of times, long after the apology was issued.
How would you rank these PR disasters and how does BP's current situation compare? Let us know your thoughts.