Domino's Pizza Crisis: A Report on Social Media Crisis Management

This report examines the 2009 Domino's crisis, triggered by two employees posting unsanitary videos on YouTube. The videos went viral, damaging the brand's reputation and leading to widespread criticism. Domino's responded by leveraging social media, including Twitter and YouTube, to addre...Read More

Academic Communications- Business
and Economics
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Introduction
In 2009, on Easter Sunday, two employees of Domino’s , working in a North Carolina store,
decided to post two funny videos of them while making sandwich. They created five videos
using different ingredients. One of video showed that an individual was sticking mozzarella
cheese up his nose and then used that dirty cheese by blowing the same on a sandwich. Other
videos were about unhygienic uses during preparation and cooking and some stomach turning
activities. They posted those videos in YouTube without consulting anyone and they did not
think of any consequences after posting them in social networking site. They did not even
think of reputation of the brand image of Domino’s and did not realize that their funny
activities can take a toll on the branding. 1 million people watched those videos. Those
videos were viral and people criticized Domino’s for adulteration in prime trusted brand. The
videos were on YouTube for 2 days. Online bloggers and customers prepared several articles
on that adulteration. The top personality of Domino’s then decided to tackle the situation
going on social media through different social media platforms. He realized that videos were
not false propaganda. Then he collaborated with the consumer watch dog GoodsAsYou.org.
They identified the two employees as Kristy Hammond and Michael Setzer (Goldiner, 2009).
Vice president McIntyre then instructed the company to respond all queries on Twitter.
Domino’s explained the situation, their stand, what is going on to rectify the situation and
why the company didn’t issue any official statement. By next day, President of Domino’s,
Patrick Doyle recorded an apology statement and it was uploaded on YouTube. A video was
posted against two videos on social networks just to manage and to fight the situation on
same platforms. This made people more responding and trustworthy as people watched
adulteration on YouTube and believed the whole story. In the same way, people trusted the
apology video and believed that it was not adulteration, rather a nonsense post. It was indeed
a right decision as well as a guide for the corporate also (Gregory, 2009).
Answer to Q. No. 1
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The Domino's crisis is an eye opener for corporates. It shows that companies should have
very strong social media presence which can handle any situation over cyber world. If
companies do not have access to the social network in a day when youngsters are totally
dependent on this platform, companies would definitely face real problems and become
victims in social media platforms very easily. If a corporate does not have social media
presence, it cannot manage any created damage in social media either.
Domino's did not have very good social media presence. So it could not be active when the
videos were posted on YouTube. It would take time for them to combat the crisis as they did
not have any corporate strategies to manage risk factors of being victimized in social media
platforms. People did not believe them unless an apology with explanation was uploaded by
the company president. Domino’s used the same platform to clarify the issue for damage
control. People understood their views as it was more relevant to public feelings. Food
adulteration took a toll on company reputation in initial stage, but later uploading a video had
done the damage control about all allegations, which was proved to be effective tool to
manage the crisis. In his dissertation titled “How Social Media is Changing Crisis
Communication: A Historical Analysis,” Daniel A. Landau (2011) mentioned that an
integrated strategy communicating in such a way that it incorporates both traditional and
social media, which is important (p. 62). Previously corporate sectors had risk management
associated with different platforms and they had ready documents to handle the situation. But
now as social media is used to defame a company, it must have risk management plans to
deal with all social media. When company sets up a presence on online, it becomes more
public friendly with easy reach of people. People can now watch their favourite brand and
can react more than before. Now they are directly related to the company affairs. Earlier it
was hidden in some way and stakeholders could know about their company at the end. But
now people can react and assess the company while watching online and can build positive or
negative feelings. Social media response is very quick and within very less timeframe and it
can be viral as well. So for negative news, before being viral, company should be able to
manage that damage using the same media (Northrup, 2010).
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Answer to Q. No. 2
Compiling and synthesizing these damage control practices are not an easy task. This crisis
and disaster are different in nature with unique feature, which are inherently dynamic, with
unpredictable outcome (Bell, 2010, p. 151). As per Seeger (2006) these practices do not
frame a plan, rather they are the principles and sometimes processes which are treated to be
effective crisis communication response in terms of good planning (p. 242).There are
different practices depending on the nature of situations. Coombs (2004) offers the
Situational Crises Communication Theory to make strategies for different situational
approach. It explains how a company can select a crisis response strategy. Normally crises
cause awareness of stakeholders in a three way system (Young, 2012).
1. If the crisis took place in past or it may happen in near future also
2. If the situation can be controlled by the company
3. If the crises are an output of internal or external process (Seeger, 2006).
In Domino's case, this crisis was not happened in the past. So corporate is not ready to control
the situation. Company reputation depends on ready strategies to handle that crisis and thus it
can change minds of stakeholders. It can affect stakeholders in a very negative way.
1. The crisis must be observed in a serious note
2. Company should interpret all relevant information in details and connect them accurately
with relevance
3. Company has to choose a strategy which seems to be most fitted in this situation
4. Company must implement the solution (Hale, Dulek, & Hale, 2005).
Normally a company should choose the strategy which is best suited in that situation by
evaluating with four step process. Best practice can minimize the damage very quickly and
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efficiently. In this case, until the president came over with apologetic video, people did not
listen and turned down every excuse which caused a big problem with the company.
Answer to Q. No. 3
Domino’s could upload video with those two staffs who posted those problematic videos. As
they posted some videos which misled people that Domino’s products are adulterated and
there is no quality check or assurance process. Actually they did it for fun without realizing
the seriousness of the issue. They even did not think that it would go to such serious extent
and those crazy videos could turn so harmful for their company. If another video giving
explanation from these two people was uploaded, people would start believing their
innocence. People would definitely listen to them as they did such for first time. Generally
people have positive impact if the miscreants admit their fault. Domino's could talk to them
after identifying the duos. Then it could create a video mentioning that they posted the video
without any serious thinking. They did not mean for degrading the product, rather it was
completely a fun video (Thesmokinggun, 2009).
The management of Domino’s have realized that problem happened in social media and
required to be handled and controlled via social network only. As there is a concern about the
reputation of the company, to apprehend the correct views in front of stakeholders, the
President came to control damage occurred by this loss. The president is the supreme
authority and most weighed person in the organization. So people have a biased response for
him. He is liable to the stakeholders. So only he could clear all confusions created by that
wrongly posted video. He took apology which made people more comfortable. Public
observed that the company is serious about their whereabouts with very particular step to
make damage control urgently. People always have a trust system on this type of mentality
and cannot close their eyes. People with consciousness about social media watched first
video, made a conclusion of adulteration of food. After watching video of the president of
that same company, people concluded that it is not a case of adulteration. Here people
continued to trust on the brand as the highest authority has that trustworthiness. People
started believing on their loving brand just like before (Williamson, 2010).
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Answer to Q.No 4
Domino’s could use traditional media like print media and electronic media. Domino’s could
give advertisement in all leading newspaper. They could publish an interview of the president
of the company with those two staffs. Staffs could clarify their stand with relevance. They
could admit in a press conference also to accept that they did this wrong doing
unintentionally. They could tell people that the video was for pure fun. It was not for any
adulteration. At the same time, the president could give an interview with apology. He might
feel sorry with the people. Domino’s could call a press meet with those two defaulters. All
the traditional media got information about what happened there. Dominos could give
advertisement in television also. Newspaper and television are two main mass media
everywhere. Public could understand the stand point in this matter and decide accordingly.
Domino’s could use Twitter as well as Facebook also. Facebook could counter talk on that
video as Facebook is used by huge number of people. It might be viral also with the statement
that the video was not an adulterated one; rather it was a fun posting without considering any
post consequences. In Twitter, Domino’s was trolled by several people for this adulteration
video. Company could clarify its position in twitter also. They could post video also in both
the social networking sites. Domino’s could target directly its stakeholders using Facebook
and Twitter because a huge number of people have access on these two sites (Youtube,
2009).
Answer to Q. No. 5
The first page principle is Tell the truth. This created a series of questions that who needs the
truth and to what extent. In a situation like this, there are multiple truths which might be right
to grab the attention of general customers, the company, the employees and the media. In this
case, there were some online watchdog organizations. They helped the company by
informing every details related to this case. The Designated authority of the company actually
conveyed the message that an erratic and insensitive behaviour of two individuals who
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thought that everything was not so serious. Company gave the message that the two
individuals do not represent the brand. They are part of the 100,000 people and cannot
represent all staffs who work every day at Domino’s Pizza all over the world (Flandez, 2009,
Para. 6). Patrick Doyle wanted to interpret the truth that the incident done by them was not
carrying anything wrong in any sense. They felt sorry for the whole episode and told people
that the act was an unwilling mistake and they would do anything to regain the trust of
consumers (Scholarcompanions, 2016).
However, in the quest to honest, open and candid (Seeger, 2006) about the situation,
Domino’s must take all responsibility of its workers. But at the same time taking
responsibility had the probability of legal hazards (Claeys&Cauberghe, 2012), including
freedom of speech and to some extent copyright claims also. In order to minimize the damage
of the company, Domino’s depended on two social sites (the watch dog organizations and
local authorities) as they are credible sources and general people have faith on them. Being
social media partner, they coordinated the situation as an act too idiotic and alerted more
people (York, 2009, Para. 5), and appealed to people not to add further fuel to the matter (Vei
et al., 2011). Initially Domino’s took 24 long hours to respond as it was hesitating to respond
and clarify their stand through social media. They never communicated in Twitter or any
other social media as people are very fast and judgemental in social media. So people
gathered negative views against Domino’s. Veil, Buehner, and Palenchar (2011) pointed to
the fact that the power to communicate remains with the way a company is behaving and
narrating the entire situation. It never depends only on technology (Petkevičienė, 2014).
A second challenge in telling the truth in the digital age reveals on other questions (Roberts,
2010) that an organisation needs virtual spaces in cyber world. They are using social media
platforms, which are to be used for best practices. York (2009) brought this to our attention in
her online article, asking why Domino’s lagged behind on social media presence. The brand
is on all the social media platforms like MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube and most visibly on
Facebook with nearly 300,000 followers (Para. 18). There is a big difference, that presence in
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social media does not have value if not utilized in any serious situation. Company must
integrate their marketing policy in social media otherwise competitors would never miss a
chance to malign in any possible situation.
On the very next day the video was uploaded in YouTube, and Domino’s had posted a video
on their website. But it had not got such implication as expected by the employees of the
company. Domino’s could not reach the audience through its own websites.
According to McIntyre, prior to this event, they had a crisis management team with all
probable social media plans. But they thought not to jump there without a solid strategy.
They planned to play safe and straight. Most important thing is they were about to implement
their new social media strategy just a week later. But as this situation came suddenly, which
made them to jump in order to resolve the crisis and they did opposite to whatever they
planned (Quoted in Jacques, 2009, Para. 10)
After reviewing this, they researched a lot and found the truth that apology by the president
actually changed the scene drastically in favour of the company. He further assured that this
type of incident would never happen again (Levick, 2009, Para. 6).
They changed their strategy then and decided to use the same interface targeting same
audiences. They uploaded video to control the damage and to give explanations to the people
and stakeholders, as well. They used to generate various contents and information from social
networking to prove their willingness to act promptly with concern, passion and apology
(Veil et al., 2011, p. 114). Bloomberg BusinessWeek appreciated their concern in such
situation as they gave importance to rebuild their fame. Online portals said that Domino’s has
that ability to manage social media in crises situation (Levick, 2009, Para. 7) (Wordpress,
2016).
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Answer to Q. No.6
Initially Domino's chose to upload video in their website. But it hardly had viewers. As they
handled this type of situation first time; with this experiment, negative publicity was going on
with the pranked video. If the video was being watched by more people, that would make it
further viral. When Domino's realized the problem, it chalked out a fruitful plan to counter
the video in the same platform, to win the battle. People started watching company’s
clarification of such a serious issue and started believing company’s version as it was more
accountable than any other. The video had viewership of one million within 24 hour. It was
further increased in next day.
Speed in social media plays a vital role and thus it is a major criterion to minimize risk
factors using social media. Crisis management is a complex issue. But time is an important
factor to handle situation like Domino’s case.
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Williamson, S.N., 2010. Domino's Pizza gross-out prankster pleads guilty. [Online] Available
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