Every PR student or just news watcher
in general loves a good PR crisis right? It is the proverbial train wreck from
which everyone just cannot look away. Well here is one for all of you folks
whether you are a PR student looking for case studies or just want a good
disapproving shake of the head.
Number one
for today is American Apparel’s Hurricane Sandy Sale. During the wake of Hurricane
Sandy, American Apparel thought it was a wonderful time to put into effect a
special twenty percent off of everything sale. Now as a shopper that is a great
sale and I would love to go to it, but not during a hurricane!
Sandy had killed and injured
people, destroyed homes and displaced many. According to listverse.com
American Apparel said in the ad “In case you are bored during the storm”; they
even put #sandysale as if the tagline was not enough. I think more people were
looking for a bed to sleep in that day than a sale.
This is a
case of the marketing team and PR people not working together. I am sure after
the ad printed the PR people were shaking their heads and thinking “how are we
going to make this right?”
This is why interdepartmental
communication is really important so ads like this do not happen. This ad makes
American Apparel look like it absolutely does not care about its community
which is going to alienate a lot of publics for a while.
Haley, thank you for sharing this case study. I had not heard of this and I find it interesting that American Apparel found themselves in such an appalling situation. I completely agree that interdepartmental communications is vital, especially during a crisis such as Hurricane Sandy. Instead of worrying about their sales by offering a "storm sale", they should have been focused on contributing to the relief efforts. I would be interested to hear how the PR team solved this dilemma. American Apparel made their brand sound disrespectful and irreverent in the face of a storm that caused so much devastation. How did they fix a crisis this bad?
ReplyDeleteHaley, this is a great case study to read about. I find it quite ridiculous that American Apparel could put up a sale during hurricane sandy, especially promoting the sale using hurricane Sandy. This makes American Apparel look so heartless, which could not look good for the brand. I also cannot believe the PR team could let this happen. This really goes to show how important public relations really is.
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