United Is the Latest Company to Fly Into a Social Media Storm
April 11 2017 - 2:47PM
Dow Jones News
By Anne Steele and Imani Moise
Consumers erupted on social media this week after United
Airlines forcibly removed a passenger from a flight Sunday
night.
Videos of the incident were captured by other passengers and
posted on social media, where they were shared hundreds of
thousands of times. The anger also spread to China as the passenger
was identified in news reports as ethnically Chinese. By Tuesday,
the incident was the No. 1 trending topic on Weibo, China's
Twitter-like microblog. Many comments on the site urged boycotting
the airline or canceling its credit cards.
The United incident this week joins a growing list of instances
where consumers have used social media en masse to amplify their
grievances against a company and demand a response. Here are few
other recent examples:
Target's Bathroom Policy
In April 2016, Target Corp. published a blog post welcoming
transgender employees and shoppers to use its restrooms and fitting
rooms corresponding with their gender identities. The retailer made
public its existing policy as the issue of bathroom choice was
heating up after North Carolina passed a law that required
transgender people to use bathrooms in government buildings
according to the sex on their birth certificates. Although other
retailers have similar policies, Target's public posting sparked an
outcry from socially conservative groups, and people began clogging
its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. An internal review found
the negative publicity -- which didn't die down quickly -- was the
tipping point for some stores, especially in the South, that were
struggling.
Nordstrom Pulls Ivanka Trump Label
Nordstrom Inc.'s announcement earlier this year that it decided
to stop carrying Ivanka Trump's label, citing poor sales, created a
firestorm on social media, prompting President Donald Trump and
senior White House counselor Kellyanne Conway to publicly rush to
Ms. Trump's defense. The Wall Street Journal reported sales of the
line at Nordstrom tumbled 32% last fiscal year, with declines
deepening in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election. G-III
Apparel Group Ltd., however, which makes women's apparel under the
Ivanka Trump brand, reported a $17.9 million increase in net sales
of Ivanka Trump licensed products to $29.4 million last fiscal
year.
Nivea's "White Is Purity" Ad
Nivea, owned by German skin-care company Beiersdorf AG, deleted
an ad last week that featured the phrase "White is Purity" after
facing backlash from people who considered it to be a racist
message, and after some white supremacist groups apparently cheered
it. The ad, for the company's "Invisible for Black and White"
deodorant, was a picture of the back of a woman clothed in all
white, with the slogan "White is purity" in all caps on top.
Pepsi Protest Ad
PepsiCo Inc. pulled an advertisement that debuted online last
week after swift outcries from both liberals and conservatives. The
The 2 1/2 -minute spot featured celebrity model Kendall Jenner, who
defuses a standoff between a group of racially diverse protesters
and a stone-faced line of policemen by handing one of the officers
a can of Pepsi. Some critics called it a tone-deaf depiction of the
Black Lives Matter movement while others accused it of being
slanted against law enforcement. One day after the online release,
Pepsi apologized, removed the content and halted further
rollout.
Uber and Trump's Travel Ban
After some critics accused Uber Technologies Inc. of changing
its pricing policy to profit off of a taxi strike in response to
President Donald Trump's travel ban, customers took to social media
to urge others to delete their Uber accounts. The hashtag
#deleteUber was a top trending topic over the weekend of the
incident. On Jan. 29, two days after the executive order was
signed, Chief Executive Travis Kalanick announced the company was
setting aside $3 million in legal aid to help drivers who were
affected by the ban. Days later, he resigned from the president's
advisory board. The hashtag urging people to eschew the
ride-hailing app made a comeback after an former employee's
allegations of rampant sexism at the company. Mr. Kalanick
condemned the behavior described by the employee and ordered an
internal investigation, hiring former U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder to help review the charges.
Starbucks's Refugee Hiring Pledge
Starbucks Corp. met fierce social-media backlash as it pledged
to hire 10,000 refugees in response to President Donald Trump's
executive order banning refugees from seven Muslim-majority
countries, which the administration said was due to terrorism
concerns. #BoycottStarbucks was one of the top trending topics at
the time of the news. However, the company said it didn't see any
disruption at its stores. The coffee chain has been criticized --
and praised -- before for taking stands on such issues as gun
control and race relations.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 11, 2017 14:32 ET (18:32 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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