We recently discussed the video on YouTube posted by a Domino’s employee who videotaped her co-worker doing some disgusting things to the food they were preparing to deliver to customers. I won’t give the dirty details, but this was definitely a PR disaster for Domino’s. The president of Domino’s, Patrick Doyle, offered a formal apology in a YouTube video.
I think the formal apology on YouTubewas a very good move. Hopefully, the same people who have visited YouTube and saw the offending video will see the apology as well. Unfortunately, the initial shock and disgust felt by Domino’s customers can not be fully retracted.
With current technology, viral videos are putting power in the hands of anyone with the know-how to upload a video. Obviously, when that power is abused, the reputations of multi-million dollar companies can be put on the line. If these businesses are not up to date on PR outlets such as social media, they may suffer great loss. Hopefully this teaches a lesson to all companies, one which we have been reminded of multiple times in my PR 2330 class: track what is being said about your company!! With the incredibly fast pace of social media, responses need to be as fast as possible – someone is commenting on what is being said/watched. You would rather those comments be made by your company than other sources.
[...] of this is the fiasco that challenged Domino’s reputation recently, which I discussed in a blog post. If organizations are going to stay ahead, they must remain abreast of the new mediums for [...]