5 crisis PR lessons from KitchenAid’s offensive tweet
The brand’s official Twitter account sent an errant tweet during Wednesday’s debate riffing on President Obama’s dead grandmother.
Shortly after President Obama mentioned his late grandmother, the following tweet appeared on the @KitchenAidUSA Twitter feed:
“Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’. #nbcpolitics”
The tweet was quickly deleted, but not before a swift and fierce backlash against the brand. (At the time, @KitchenAidUSA had about 24,000 followers.)
KitchenAid issued this apology on Twitter:
“Deepest apologies for an irresponsible tweet that is in no way a representation of the brand’s opinion. #nbcpolitics”
Shortly thereafter, the head of the KitchenAid brand, Cynthia Soledad, began tweeting from the account, saying:
“I would like to personally apologize to President @BarackObama, his family and everyone on Twitter for the offensive tweet sent earlier.”
“It was carelessly sent in error by a member of our Twitter team who, needless to say, won’t be tweeting for us anymore.”
“That said, I take full responsibility for my team. Thank you for hearing me out.”
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