Weathering the stormArtifacts from social media crises(sanofi aventis, US Airways, Motrin)

sanofi aventisShirley Ledlie is a cancer survivor who claims to have experienced permanent hair loss from SA’s cancer drug Taxotere. Ledlie is part of a group of women calling themselves “the Taxotears” who comment and blog on the subject of chemotherapy-induced permanent alopecia and charge that SA didn’t make them aware of that possible side effect.

1

Taxotears blog about chemotherapy-induced permanent alopecia:

Comments on the brand’s real Facebook page:

More comments from the brand’s Facebook page:

Comments on the fake SA Facebook page:

The photo used by Ledlie and her many aliases:

Motrin MomsOne Friday afternoon, the brand managers at Motrin launched a light-hearted video that they hoped would quickly become viral. Moms, it turned out, didn’t find the ad funny. They were offended. They said it felt like Motrin was picking on new moms. That Motrin didn’t understand. That it wasn’t painful. And, importantly that they wouldn’t be buying Motrin again ever.

2

Screenshots from the viral ad:

Early trending of the conversation on Twitter:

First Motrin takes down the site. Then, later launches an apology:

Sample echoes in major media:

Even after the official video was taken down, tens of thousands watched boot-legged copies and commentaries:

US Air Flight 1549On January 15, 2009, around 3:40 in the afternoon, US Airways Flight 1549 crashed in the Hudson. Ten minutes later, the first pictures of the accident appeared on Twitter.

Although US Air quickly caught up to the story, in the crucial minutes after the accident, the brand was following, not leading, the information flow.

3

Within 10 minutes of the crash, the first photos appeared in social media:

At 4PM, traditional media stories began appearing online:

People looked to US Air for the answers (and found an ad for Vegas vacations):

By 4:33, bloggers and media had begun aggregating the CGC from the scene:

At 4:38, US Air issued the first of several press releases (the only online venue it had to quickly communicate with consumers)