The Scandal
PepsiCo, Inc. is an American based multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation. The headquarters of the company are located in the New York. The company has found interested in the marketing, promoting its products and services in the market by using the campaigns and another way in the market. PepsiCo has found to promote its products and service on the social media in any of the different ways (Forbes, 2017). The company was found to be unique in making the new campaigns in order to get the publicity in the market. However, sometimes it may have the negative effect on the company and its image in the market. One of the incidents has been discussed below which was related to the social media crisis which Pepsi has to face in the market (Semrush, 2017).
In the year 2017, one of the biggest scandals has been identified in the global market. Pepsi was found to defend in the global market with a message f unity, peace, and understanding. The company was found as the defaulter in the market due to providing the wrong advertisements in the market. The intention of Pepsi was to get the publicity in the market but not have the belief to face the crisis on the social media. However, the interpretation of the advertisement and campaign was made in the wrong way. For this, the company has to pay a very high amount in the market in the form of loss of sale, a decrease of reputation in the market and spoiled image in the social media (Semrush, 2017).
The scandal is nothing but the company has presented the advertisement in the market related to its new campaign. Pepsi has presented a new advertisement campaign featuring the mega-celebrity Kendall Jenner. In this campaign, Kendall Jenner through away the Pepsi can to the camera staff and run away from there and join the protest, which is running on the protest. This video got viral on youtube. In one day, the video got the 1.6 million views (Forbes, 2017). The most amazing event was recorded in the video. Kendall gives the can in the hands of the police officer, who takes a sip and smiles to his partners (Rutsaert et al., 2013).
The video and campaign was most advertising in the market. Video get the publicity too in youtube and other channels. The campaign and video being promoted in the social media market get advertisement in the newspapers and youtube. This advertisement was given as the best example of white and economic privilege. This was judged for trivializing demonstrations and serious social issues. Several memes and jokes have viral related to the Pepsi and Kendall acts over the social media. The social media crisis has begun. This affects the market value of the company and its reputation too in the market (Qualman, 2010).
Impact on Company
It was necessary to shut the communication channel in the market so that the information must not be sent to a high level in the market. However, Company fails to do so as the information and video get viral in the short period within 48 hours with a million views and like on them. This spoils the image of the company, which hampers the growth potential of the company. The tipping point in the case is only the video that gets viral through the social media and gets fire in the mind of the individual. This little thing has made the great distinction in the market (Fearn-Banks, 2016). The difference came in the market after the video get viral will hamper the image of the company in the minds of the consumers. This will be considered a tipping or turning point in the life of the company. a little things make a big difference in the image and sales of the company. The company get affected not only in the economic terms but also gets affected in the social market also. The historical image that the company has managed during its initial years was spoiled in the market due to this small incident (The PHA Group, 2014).
The company was trying to manage the crisis by introducing and indulging the new aspects of the market. Pepsi Company has tried many different ways to improve the image of company on social media sites but gets fails to do so. The company was targeted by the social media. The company tries to manage the affairs of the company so that image can be improved and an increase in the market. Not only the market image but also market value should also be enhanced. This should be improved in the eyes of its stakeholders and shareholders. After all this, Pepsi managed to delete the video from its official sites and on the social media channels (Berthon, Pitt, Plangger and Shapiro, 2012).
The Pepsi made statements that the Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace, and understanding, but fails to do so in this campaign. The company promised to do so in the near future. At last, the company accepts that they have missed the campaign objectives and ultimate goals and they are found guilty and apologize for the same. Company conveys its message on the social media that “we did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and material available on the social media and halting any further rollout. We also feel guilty for putting the Kendall Jenner in this position (Forbes, 2015).”
Company’s Response and Crisis Management
It has been learned from the case that the Pepsi has to pay the high price for this small incident. When the company is found struggling with the audience in the market, it has faced such situation, which brought down its image too low in the market. The company wants to attain the attention and attract the customer at large. Companies love to request the social issues so that they can get the publicity in the market and product can be known in the product. The large public can able to reach the product. The popular idea of making a buyer and speaking to the spectators in their language is a good one but as we can see from this incident, it is possible it can be a failure also. From the incident, it has been analyzed that this will be the greatest failure due to the very small issue, which has taken a large span in the social media market. The company wants to maintain the good image by speaking in the language in which people understand their campaign but ends up with the failure only. The social media, in this case, provoked a serious issue and made the crisis on a hike (PR week, 2017).
The company has tried to manage the affairs in the right way, as there is no other option is left with the company. Deleting the video from the social media and apologizing for their mistake is the right way to get resolved this topic from the minds of the consumer. Otherwise, the company will have to pay a huge amount in resolving the issue from the minds of the customer as other companies are bearing today also (Malthouse et al., 2013).
Therefore, from the above case, it has been analyzed that before launching a product advertising campaign, first test the idea in a small area or market. From this, the analysis can be made whether the campaign will be successful in the market or not. Choosing the small target audience has its own advantages in the market as the cost and analysis involved in the research will also be less rather than targeting the large audience at one time without knowing and analyzing the result (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins and Wiertz, 2013).
However, from the case of Pepsi, Pepsi has apologized for doing the mistake in the market and on the social media. The company takes the responsibility for what company has done in the market. From this, it can be concluded that the Pepsi care for their customers and target area to whom they are targeting. Pepsi feels sorry for the misunderstanding and this was appreciated by the social media, which works as the positive driver to improve the company image in the market (PR week, 2017).
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that every organization should try to make the campaigns, which are eligible and found relevant in nature. From the case of Pepsi, it has been learned that the organization should deal with the problem on the valid basis. If they have mistaken they should accept it on the social media so that everyone can know that they are guilty and care for their customers and targeted market. This will make the negative image of the company concerned into the positive image. Pepsi was found to be eligible in accepting their mistakes and shown care towards its customers.
References
Berthon, P.R., Pitt, L.F., Plangger, K. and Shapiro, D. (2012) Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy. Business horizons, 55(3), pp.261-271.
Fearn-Banks, K. (2016) Crisis communications: A casebook approach. Oxon: Routledge.
Forbes. (2015) Crisis PR – Top 10 Best and Worst [Online] Available from: https://blog.rdpr.co.uk/the-best-and-worst-crisis-communications-case-studies [Accessed on: 14-09-2018]
Forbes. (2017) The Biggest PR Crises Of 2017 [Online] Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/23/the-biggest-pr-crises-of-2017/#7e00fdef50a8 [Accessed on: 14-09-2018]
Gensler, S., Völckner, F., Liu-Thompkins, Y. and Wiertz, C. (2013) Managing brands in the social media environment. Journal of interactive marketing, 27(4), pp.242-256.
Malthouse, E.C., Haenlein, M., Skiera, B., Wege, E. and Zhang, M. (2013) Managing customer relationships in the social media era: Introducing the social CRM house. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), pp.270-280.
PR week. (2017) Pepsi says sorry and removes Kendall Jenner ad from the Web [Online] Available from: https://www.prweek.com/article/1429761/pepsi-says-sorry-removes-kendall-jenner-ad-web [Accessed on: 14-09-2018]
Qualman, E. (2010) Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Rutsaert, P., Regan, Á., Pieniak, Z., McConnon, Á., Moss, A., Wall, P. and Verbeke, W. (2013) The use of social media in food risk and benefit communication. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 30(1), pp.84-91.
Semrush. (2017) What We Can Learn From the Biggest Social Media Management
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