I posted this on Facebook a few days ago and it received a variety of comments, so I thought that it might make for interesting discourse on our blog. There are no clear-cut answers about how companies should respond to potential issues on social media, and there were some differing opinions on my Facebook post, so I thought I’d let you weigh-in.
The Situation
- Pepsi posted a status update (screenshot below) on July 19
- Later that evening, a gunman opened fire at a midnight screening of the new Batman movie
- 12 people were killed and over 50 were injured
- The post from Pepsi was up BEFORE the incident
- Facebook allows you to remove posts after they are posted
What Should Pepsi Do?
A quick look at the comments shows that a number of people thought it was insensitive for them to leave the post up. While it appears to generally be acknowledged that the post was initially innocent, but turned out to be poorly timed, Pepsi seems to have ignored the potential issue.
So, here is the question for you….. what do you think Pepsi should do? Should they leave up the post? Take it down? Add a post apologizing? Something else?
What are the potential risks of your suggested solution?
