They say “there’s no such thing as bad publicity,” but I’m not sure if that’s true anymore. The ability for an audience to impact a company is much stronger now than before. 50 years ago, it was harder to individuals to coordinate displeasure and turn it into a concentrated laser; their options if something was bad was just to not engage with or buy it, basically. And that would be overshadowed by the people who became aware of the brand because of the publicity, bad or no.
But now – well, we’ve entered a new golden age of backlash. People who have never bought your product and never would have can certainly come object to whatever your company did this week to make people upset, even if those people weren’t your intended audience in the first place. It blows over quickly, but some damage can definitely be done.
Don’t go stirring the pot just to stir it. Respect of your audience goes a long way, and we’re definitely entering an era where reputation matters more than ever.
The Opportunity Machine 