The conventional view holds that young adults are most likely to boycott and lambast companies on social media when companies suffer controversies and scandals. Research supports that belief. For instance, according to an Aflac survey, 92 percent of millennials are more likely to purchase from an ethical company.
But a new survey reveals that Americans 65 and older are less tolerant of corporations embroiled in scandal or controversy and are more likely to boycott firms accused of malfeasance.
The Public Affairs Council and Morning Consult examined 21 business crises and controversies and surveyed 2,201 American adults to see how they would react to calamities such as environmental damage, corporate scandals and major layoffs.
Older Americans are more outraged by sexual harassment and discrimination, contradicting the conventional view. Older Americans are also considerably more distressed about data hacks than younger Americans.
Not surprisingly, a large pay raise for a CEO at a financially struggling company can create a PR nightmare. In such a situation, 58 percent of respondents said they would not remain a customer and 30 percent would complain about the issue. Surprisingly, older and wealthier Americans were considerably more outraged than younger and poorer Americans.
More Walk Out than Speak Out
People in general but seniors in particular tend to stop purchasing products from corporations with damaged reputations instead of criticizing them on social media. For instance, if company were accused of ignoring sexual harassment or racial or gender discrimination in the workplace, 61 percent said they would not remain a customer, yet only 48 percent would publicly criticize the company.
“In an era of ubiquitous social media, more folks would still rather walk out than speak out,” writes Doug Pinkham, president of the Public Affairs Council, for the Institute for Public Relations.
How to Win the Public’s Trust
Transparency, accountability and sacrifice offer the best strategies to win back public trust after a PR crisis, large or small.
In one scenario presented to survey participants, a company executive was caught breaking the law and was quickly fired. The company promised to resolve any problems but declined to provide details about a “personal matter.” This approach caused 41 percent to have a more favorable view of the company. But if the company apologized for the incident and promised to provide updates as problems were resolved, 58 percent had a more favorable view.
If a company announced major layoffs but gave few details about staff cutbacks, only 32 percent of respondents had a more favorable view of the company. Favorability increased to 36 percent when the firm explained that it needed to reduce head count and expenses to preserve other jobs and remain competitive.
If the CEO and other senior executives agreed to cut their own salaries by 20 percent, favorable views of the company increased substantially.
PR veterans agree that transparency is a key tenant of public relations and crisis communications.
“Meaningful transparency will only succeed if and when communicators are empowered from the top-down by corporate leadership,” writes PR and communications consultant David B. Grinberg in Medium. PR practitioners need more access to internal data and information to effectively do their jobs. When information is being withheld, they need to ask why.
Communications teams need to formulate effective internal approaches to break down entrenched bureaucratic walls that prevent information from flowing freely when news breaks,” Grinberg asserts.
Bottom Line: Contradicting popular presumptions, new research reveals that older Americans hold worse views of companies entangled in scandals and controversies than younger adults. Instead of voicing outrage publically, they’re more likely to simply stop purchasing from the company. The research highlights the importance of reputation management and crisis communications for all brands regardless of their target audience.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
I completely agree that a PR crisis can have a lasting negative impact on a companies reputation and ultimately their bottom line. This is especially true in our present political environment where people of all ages have become fiercely loyal to whatever ideology they subscribe.
However, some political ideologies actually defend racial and gender discrimination, as well as sexual harassment. In fact, any information that contradicts their political ideas is immediately classified as fake news and discarded accordingly.
So if a company is accused of being racist or sexist they may actually be praised, especially by those who aren’t afraid to show public favor for that behavior. For example, look at how Poppa John’s Pizza became the official pie of the Alt-Right.
We are all witnessing the birth of a new era in human civilization. America will either become the all-white, Christian, Conservative nation that elected President Trump. Or, it will continue to be the battle ground between followers of Trumpism and the gays, atheists, and people of color that Trumpism despises. It can’t be both!
I suppose only time will tell, but I predict that in 100 years or possibly less, no one will even remember the America that boasted about welcoming the tired and weary. And, President Trump will go down in history as being the Forefather of the new All-White Christian Conservative America.