Business Communication and Character, Current Examples in the News
How well do leaders demonstrate character in their communications? Blog by Amy Newman, senior lecturer emerita, Cornell University; author of Business Communication and Character (11e) and Building Leadership Character
Chipotle is working hard to improve its food safety procedures and its image. After several reported E. coli outbreaks, the company announced a four-hour closing of its 1,900 stores to retrain its employees. The meeting was live-tweeted via @ChipotleTweets.
Chipotle also announced a local grower initiative to help farmers meet the company's new food safety demands, which can be tough on small farmers. The initiative includes education and training, financial assistance, and opportunities for add new farmers with greenhouses and other technologies.
In a fully developed section of its website, Chipotle outlines new plans for food safety for suppliers and in restaurants.
The good news for Chipotle is that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) declared the outbreak over as of February 1. Chipotle CEO Steve Ells is, of course, confident about a comeback, but he's not alone. Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti expressed his confidence in the company's future as have analysts such as Darren Tristano, executive vice president of industry research firm Technomic: "Consumers have a surprisingly short memory. I would be surprised if it's still affecting them by mid-next year."
Discussion Starters:
How do you assess Chipotle's messaging? Analyze its website and social media presence. Consider the audience analysis, communication objectives, messaging, organization, tone, and so on.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debated last night in an elevated argument about policies and finances. In January, for the first time, the Sanders campaign raised more than Clinton's, which her finance director said was, "a very loud wake-up call." Clinton also won the Iowa caucus, but by a small margin. As a result, the tone of the debate changed.
In this clip, the reporter asks about Clinton's record, and Sanders avoids the question to discuss his view on "big banks."
As Sanders campaigns for equity, he shuns contributions from financial services companies: "I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have super PAC, who's not raising huge sums from Wall Street and special interests." He questioned Clinton's contributions from companies, such as Goldman Sachs, which paid her $675,000 for three speeches, and gave examples of inequity:
He said that when a "kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record." But when "a Wall Street executive destroys the economy" and pays a $5 billion settlement, he has no criminal record.
Wall Street has been a popular topic on both the Republican and Democratic campaigns. Ted Cruz was recently criticized for accepting money from Goldman Sachs without disclosing it.
Discussion Starters:
Assess the candidates' arguments about Wall Street. What's your opinion on the power of Wall Street?
Who do you think won the debate? What were the highlights?
The Chronicle of Higher Education interviewed Alex Purdy, a student at Syracuse University who posted a video, "Why I Left My Sorority." Purdy explains her decision without calling out her particular sorority, but gives some damning examples, such as sisters "body shaming" other sisters. She says the biggest problem is "the overwhelming lack of compassion for one another." Purdy is also careful to say that this reflects only her experience and may not represent all sororities.
In the interview, Purdy says she worked on the video for more than six months and had been worried about how people would react. Since then, the video, with the hashtag #sororityrevamp, has received more than 100,000 views, and Purdy has appeared on the Today show.
Most Twitter comments are positive, complimenting Purdy for raising the conversation. Some expressed gratitude for their own sorority, which they say is a kind, compassionate place.
Dani Weatherford, executive director of the National Panhellenic Conference, provided this statement for The Washington Post:
We share in Alex's call for a thoughtful dialogue regarding how to best shape the modern sorority experience. Our member organizations set high standards, and a conversation about living up to them is one that we always welcome.
We also know that for millions of women, sorority membership has been and continues to be transformational and life-changing. We know from research that sorority women are not only more likely to graduate, but to graduate on time and to report a positive sense of engagement in their personal and professional lives.
For us, Alex's story is a reminder that our work must continue as we seek to enhance a sorority experience more than 100 years strong that's rooted in creating opportunities for service, leadership and scholarship.
Discussion Starters:
What examples do you hear of logical argument, emotional appeal, and credibility?
How does she organize the video? Do you find this structure helpful to her argument, or does it detract from her points?
How do you assess Purdy's own credibility? What makes her credible, and what might diminish her credibility?
In the Iowa caucus, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump lost to Senator Ted Cruz after having a consistent lead in the polls, but he's still confident about winning the election. Analysts say his infrequent visits to Iowa and lack of campaign organizing may have hurt him. He also skipped the most recent Republican debate because of a quarrel with Fox reporter Megyn Kelly, which didn't help.
But Trump says, "I don't feel any pressure. We'll do what I have to do." He also said he's "honored" to finish second.
"When both parties, the machines involved, when both of them hate you, then you know America loves you and we do love he who will be the next president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump!"
Discussion Starters:
Compare this video to Trump's previous speeches. Do you notice a difference in tone? What indicates a change?
What's your view of Trump's tweets? Is this a good political strategy, or will it eventually backfire?
In yet another case of an email plaguing a leader, Simon Newman, president of Mount St. Mary's U. of Maryland, says his words were taken out of context. The president announced an objective to retain freshmen: "My short-term goal is to have 20-25 people leave by the 25th. This one thing will boost our retention 4-5%. A larger committee or group needs to work on the details, but I think you get the objective."
Although this sounds harsh, an assistant professor of history recalled a conversation with Newman saying something worse: "This is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can't. You just have to drown the bunnies … put a Glock to their heads."
On the face of it, we can understand Newman's intent: to improve the university's 75% retention rate and reduce the current loss of 70 students after their first semester at school. Newman wants to catch students who will likely fail as early as possible-perhaps in time to get a tuition refund: "It's moral to at least have the conversation and say, You know, you can get all of your money back if this isn't the place for you. I'd rather you be happy." The university also has programs in place to check up on students who, for example, miss classes, and try to support them. Longer term, the university is trying to get out of debt and wants to increase its admission standards.
Despite the controversy, in a letter, the university's board of trustees supports the president and condemns faculty and alumni working against him. The board also passed "a unanimous resolution of full confidence."
Discussion Starters:
One issue is how the student paper, The Mountain Echo, handled the story. Read more about this in The Chronicle article and discuss your perspective.
Assess the board of trustees' letter. How well does it support the president and put the issue to rest?
Hillary Clinton has more email trouble: 22 messages on her private server while she was working for the State Department have been identified as "top secret" and won't be released to the public. The Clinton campaign says the emails weren't classified at the time and that the issue "appears to be over-classification run amok." This has been her defense for using a private server for these messages, which she also admitted was a mistake.
The timing, just days before the Iowa caucus, is unfortunate. Republican candidates are using the news to their advantage, although Bernie Sanders is still leaving it alone. As he said in a debate back in October, "Enough of the emails. Let's talk about the real issues facing America."
NPR describes other messages that were released recently: discussions of an upcoming presidential speech, observations about Joe Biden, support for her testimony about Benghazi, and issues with the press. From NPR's excerpts, we get a sense of Clinton's work style and personality.
Discussion Starters:
Should Clinton say more about this new group of emails? If so, what?
Now that the Democratic primary is getting close, should Bernie Sanders use this news to his advantage? What are the advantages and downsides of doing so?
The company describes the campaign "Taste the Feeling" as more focused on product than the previous slogan "Open Happiness." Chief Marketing Officer Marcos de Quinto explains, "We've found over time that the more we position Coca-Cola as an icon, the smaller we become. The bigness of Coca-Cola resides in the fact that it's a simple pleasure-so the humbler we are, the bigger we are. We want to help remind people why they love the product as much as they love the brand."
New 60-second spots show people enjoying the product, and a series of print ads are described as "Norman Rockwell meets Instagram."
That's all fine, but the company also launched a GIF maker for people to create their own ads, and we can guess what happened next. People created ads about divorce, foot fetishes, and predictably, bodily functions.
The company responded with this statement:
"Our intention is to invite people to share their feelings in fun and uplifting ways as they discover our new ‘Taste the Feeling' campaign. While the vast majority have used ‘GIF The Feeling' in positive ways, it's unfortunate to see that some people have chosen to use our campaign to do just the opposite."
Discussion Starters:
Should Coca-Cola have predicted the results? A writer on Digiday thinks so.
Assess the company's statement. How well does it work in response to the failed GIF maker?
Besides this failure, what's your view of the "Taste the Feeling" videos and pictures?
Flint, Michigan, is battling issues about contaminated water from aging lead pipes. Messages from the governor's office reveal conflicting strategies for dealing with the situation.
The "Flint Water" page of the Department of Environmental Quality shows a short statement from Governor Rick Snyder: "We are working closely with Genesee County and the Flint community, taking actions to immediately improve the water situation in Flint. Currently, we are focused on water testing, lead testing for children, and ensuring every home has water filters. We are also at work on long-term solutions, including follow-up care for affected residents." Before this statement, the site had a graphic claiming that the water was safe for bathing (shown here); it has since been removed. Now, an extensive list of resources appears under "Contamination Investigation."
The governor has released 274 pages of emails related to the investigation; some show officials debating responsibility for the problems.
As the controversy continues, Governor Snyder is actively communicating. On Twitter, as @onetoughnerd (!), Snyder is posting updates and links to videos and audio "townhall" calls. In the description of his State of the State address on YouTube, Snyder posted this message:
On Tuesday Jan. 19, Governor Snyder delivered a very different State of the State address.
He focused on Flint, a proud city in which residents are unable to drink the water that comes into their homes.
He acknowledged that this is unacceptable. It's a problem that we will fix, and fix quickly.
He spoke directly to the people of Flint, but also to everyone in our state and people across the country.
Discussion Starters:
What are the governor's communication objectives at this point? Identify three or four for the public as his primary audience.
Assess his recent messages. How well is he meeting these objectives?
On its Q1 earnings call, Apple reported slow iPhone growth and missed revenue targets. The Wall Street Journal summarizes results: "Apple said iPhone sales grew at the slowest pace since its introduction in 2007 for its first fiscal quarter ending in December." Business Insider, similarly, reports, "Apple's holiday-quarter revenue of $75.9 billion missed analyst expectations as well as the company's own guidance."
Of course, Apple's press release paints a different picture:
The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $75.9 billion and record quarterly net income of $18.4 billion, or $3.28 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $74.6 billion and net income of $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.1 percent compared to 39.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 66 percent of the quarter's revenue.
Our team delivered Apple's biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world's most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "The growth of our Services business accelerated during the quarter to produce record results, and our installed base recently crossed a major milestone of one billion active devices."
Tim Cook did admit that the iPhone is increasingly expensive overseas because of foreign exchange rates.
Analysts don't seem too worried about the company's future. Of 14 analysts, 12 remain "bullish," while only two are "neutral."
Discussion Starters:
Listen to the Q1 earnings call. How does the company handle the news?
How well does Apple's press release summarize the results? Should anything else have been said in the release?
Shortly after hearing complaints that Oscar nominations are exclusively for white actors, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has responded with a plan to increase diversity.
President Cheryl Boone Isaacs had written a response about the controversy, but it didn't do enough to ease concerns. Actors continued plans to boycott the awards, and Saturday Night Live did a skit showing white actors winning nominations for minor roles, such as mistakenly walking on set.
Now, the organization has identified clearer targets for addressing the main criticism: that the voting members of The Academy (including its executive board) are not diverse enough. The organization's plan includes improving diversity of its governing body, partly by increasing the number of seats available and partly by restricting terms to three years. The time restriction would open the door for younger actors of color who have worked in the business more recently.
Lifetime voting rights reframed; new governor seats added and committees restructured
Goal to double number of diverse members by 2020
In a unanimous vote Thursday night (1/21), the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved a sweeping series of substantive changes designed to make the Academy's membership, its governing bodies, and its voting members significantly more diverse. The Board's goal is to commit to doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020.
"The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up," said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. "These new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition."
Beginning later this year, each new member's voting status will last 10 years, and will be renewed if that new member has been active in motion pictures during that decade. In addition, members will receive lifetime voting rights after three ten-year terms; or if they have won or been nominated for an Academy Award. We will apply these same standards retroactively to current members. In other words, if a current member has not been active in the last 10 years they can still qualify by meeting the other criteria. Those who do not qualify for active status will be moved to emeritus status. Emeritus members do not pay dues but enjoy all the privileges of membership, except voting. This will not affect voting for this year's Oscars.
At the same time, the Academy will supplement the traditional process in which current members sponsor new members by launching an ambitious, global campaign to identify and recruit qualified new members who represent greater diversity.
In order to immediately increase diversity on the Board of Governors, the Academy will establish three new governor seats that will be nominated by the President for three-year terms and confirmed by the Board.
The Academy will also take immediate action to increase diversity by adding new members who are not Governors to its executive and board committees where key decisions about membership and governance are made. This will allow new members an opportunity to become more active in Academy decision-making and help the organization identify and nurture future leaders.
Along with Boone Isaacs, the Board's Membership and Administration Committee, chaired by Academy Governor Phil Robinson, led the efforts to enact these initiatives.
Discussion Starters:
What's your view of The Academy's plan? How well does it address criticism? Would it affect your decision to boycott the awards?
Why didn't The Academy publish this plan with the first communication? Would that have helped quell some of the controversy?
American mayors heard arguments about Airbnb's short-term rental business and have to decide whether it's good for their cities. Airbnb argues that the business brings millions of dollars in tax revenue to municipalities. If the company is allowed to continue connecting hosts and guests online, according to Chris Lehane, Airbnb's head of global policy, hotel, tourist and occupancy taxes could mount to $200 million a year.
The opposing view at the mayor's conference was led by Katherine Lugar, president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. According to a Penn State study, many of Airbnb hosts are professional landlords who rent rooms illegally and have made more than $500 million in revenue: "Our data is showing a tremendous growth of commercial operators who are exploiting sites like Airbnb to avoid paying taxes, following zoning rules and following basic laws for health and safety."
Airbnb is working through local organizations to fight restrictions, but short-term rentals have been banned in several municipalities.
Discussion Starters:
Read the Penn State report. How does it provide evidence for AHLA's point of view? How does it fall short?
Analyze the graphics used in the report. Which principles of creating infographics from Chapter 9 are used?
We can take a lesson from Time Inc.: check before hitting "Reply All." At the largest magazine publishing company in the United States, an employee asked a benefits question that went to thousands of employees. A photo editor inquired about the heath savings plan:
The funny thing is, after reading more, we learn that this is an IT issue, which sent a response email back to the listserv (the entire company). Maybe some of the criticism was unfair. Still, we should check to see where our email goes before sending it. A listserv in the "To" line could be dangerous..
Of course, Time employees made the situation far worse by replying back to everyone with snarky comments:
This brings us to the second lesson: if you get an email like this by mistake, just delete it.
Discussion Starters:
Have you experienced something similar at work or school? How did you or the company handle the situation?
What other advice would you offer people before they "hit send"?
Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson told Bloomberg TV at Davos that he's optimistic about the hotel outlook for 2016.
Sorenson uses logical arguments to explain his perspective on rates and bookings despite weak performance in the stock market. Referring to industry data, he makes a convincing case that Marriott will see similar revenue in 2016.
In discussing the Starwood acquisition, Sorenson explains the purchase of equity (and a lower price today than what was announced) and describes plans for the integration mid-2016. He also talks about more potential M&A activity for other hotel companies.
Discussion Starters:
What examples of logical arguments do you identify in Sorenson's interview?
What data does he use to support his points?
Sorenson is realistic. Identify at least three examples of reservations and qualifiers you hear him use. How do these help or hurt his position?
Like last year, Oscar nominations from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences included not one black actor or filmmaker in the top categories, and people are upset. Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Will Smith and others will boycott the award ceremony in February, and #OscarsSoWhite is trending on Twitter.
The Academy has responded by promising to prioritize diversity for the organization. Much of the criticism is about the make-up of the group itself:
A Los Angeles Times study found that academy voters are markedly less diverse than the moviegoing public, and even more monolithic than many in the film industry may suspect. Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male, The Times found. Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%.
Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership.
President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, one of two non-white members of The Academy issued this statement in response to the controversy.
Why does the statement look as though it were written on a typewriter? This can't help The Academy's image as a bunch of old, out-of-touch people. Also, I have long stopped double-spacing between sentences based on style guides and this sound advice from PR Daily.
Discussion Starters:
Assess The Academy's response. How well did Boone address concerns?
What will you do? If you typically watch the awards ceremony, will you boycott this year? Why or why not? What do you think the actors should do?
Last fall, McGraw-Hill was under fire for misrepresenting the history of slavery in the United States. Now, Scholastic publishing company is facing similar criticism about a children's book.
A Birthday Cake for George Washington focuses on Hercules, the former president's chef, and includes pictures of his slaves smiling. The VP of Scholastic Trade Publishing defended the book in a blog post, excerpted here:
"The topic of slavery is one that must be handled with the utmost care, especially in the form of visual depictions, historical references, dialogue, and characterizations in books for young readers. In A Birthday Cake for George Washington the lives of enslaved people ― and the complex inequities of their bondage ― play a key role in the narrative. Through carefully curated research, A Birthday Cake for George Washington presents an important slice of American history. It is based on the true story of Hercules, the president's cook. Hercules was one of over 300 African Americans enslaved by George and Martha Washington. Even though he was a slave, everyone knew and admired Hercules ― especially the president!"
A Change.org petition called the book a "vile exemplification of the distortion of history" and got 928 signatures as of this writing. It was enough.
Scholastic has since posted a "New Statement" to announce the end of book distribution and to offer refunds for purchased books. The company clearly stands by those who made the book possible, but the management team now recognizes that, "without more historical background on the evils of slavery than this book for younger children can provide, the book may give a false impression of the reality of the lives of slaves and therefore should be withdrawn."
Discussion Starters:
Read the first blog post defending the book. What are the strongest and weakest arguments?
Did Scholastic make the right decision in pulling the book?
T-Mobile announced "Binge On," a new program for consumers to "stretch their data bucket." The service allows customers to watch videos at lower resolutions (which the company says doesn't matter on small screens) and not count the time against their high-resolution data minutes. In addition, consumers can watch videos from partner sites for free.
Not all responses to Binge On have been positive. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has questioned whether the program affects streaming in addition to bandwith. In a video tweet response, CEO John Legere shot back a response including the F-bomb. Legere later apologized.
In a letter to customers, Legere clarifies that the service is "opt-in" (a big concern) and explains the program in more detail. This paragraph is an example of Legere's usual, casual style:
But there is suddenly a LOT of confusion about Binge On. I keep hearing from customers that they love it – but have recently heard from some others (many of whom have never even tried Binge On, and simply have a different agenda) that they don't like it. Well you know what? That is completely OK too.
My sister sent me the letter and didn't appreciate the casual tone or the "creepy" picture of the CEO. She also noted that the letter isn't dated, so it's unclear when all of this happened.
Consumers can find more information on T-Mobile's FAQs about Binge On.
Discussion Starters:
What's your view of Legere's writing style? Partly, it fits with the T-Mobile image, but is it too much for customers?
Could T-Mobile have avoided some of the controversy with clearer communications during the rollout? What do you think happened, and how could the messaging have been handled differently?
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz didn't disclose a loan he received from Goldman Sachs for his campaign. He was a managing director at the investment bank before taking a leave to run for president.
Campaign rules dictate that candidates reveal all sources of income for a bid for office, including loans. He received between $250,000 and $500,000 from GS as a low-interest loan at the start of his campaign. Cruz's campaign is trying to explain the failure as "inadvertent" (I was waiting for "an oversight"), saying that he did disclose a money market account that included the GS loan and another from Citibank.
Particularly troubling for Cruz is the contrast between this news and how he presented himself and his wife. He spoke in interviews about their decision to use all of their liquid savings, about $1 million, for his campaign. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journalquoted Cruz saying he wouldn't bail out "rich Wall Street banks." As the candidate tries to distance himself from Wall Street, his ties are closer than he admits.
A New York Times article also questions whether the decision with his wife happened as he described it (that she immediately agreed) and whether they did, in fact, use all of their assets:
During 2012, they sold securities worth $82,000 to $355,000, and the value of other holdings was reduced by, at most, $155,000. . . All told, the value of their cash and securities in 2012 saw a net increase of as much as $400,000 - even as the Cruzes were supposedly liquidating everything to finance Mr. Cruz's Senate campaign."
Discussion Starters:
Is this nit picky, or does Ted Cruz has some real explaining to do?
How, if at all, do you think this will affect Cruz's campaign? Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton also faced financial questions, yet the criticism seems to have blown over.
What else, if anything, should the Cruz campaign say at this point? Should Cruz issue a statement himself?
President Obama's presidency came full circle in his last State of the Union (SOTU) address. The speech was not without humor. The president began by promising to keep it short, so people could get back to Iowa for more campaigning. (Transcript)
As expected, the president highlighted accomplishments from his administration and laid out plans for the future. The speech sounded optimistic, which of course, was the theme of his first presidential campaign. He ended this way:
That's the America I know. That's the country we love. Clear- eyed, big-hearted, undaunted by challenge, optimistic that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. That's what makes me so hopeful about our future.
I believe in change because I believe in you, the American people. And that's why I stand here, as confident as I have ever been, that the state of our Union is strong.
The audience reaction is typical and always baffles me: Republicans don't support anything a Democratic president says, and the opposite happens when we have a Republican president. It's strange to me when the President makes some points that, surely, everyone agrees with. Early on, he says, "First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy?" The camera is on Marco Rubio, who sits stoically in non-response. Doesn't he support opportunity for everyone?
As usual, major newspapers showed their political bent in reporting on the SOTU. The Wall Street Journal ran a secondary headline on the front page with the title, "GOP Candidates Contrast Obama's Speech With Their Own Aims." The Journal showed additional stories under the "Politics" heading further down on the site, shown here.
In contrast, The New York Times ran the story as the main headline of the day with the title, "Obama Offers Hopeful Vision While Noting Nation's Fears," and ran more stories, including opinions, with positive titles about the speech.
Discussion Starters:
What do you consider to be the highlights of President Obama's speech?
Look at the audience's reactions. What's your view of the convention I mention above: how does the non-response serve each side?
I cut the cable cord three years ago, so I missed all of the cursing during the Golden Globes, but the language is making headlines. Comedian Amy Schumer set the stage with the first cuss word of the night (beginning with a C), according to Daily Mail, "just minutes after the show got underway."
Host Ricky Gervais continued the evening with his usual vitriol, despite saying several times,"I'm going to be nice tonight," which of course, no one expected or wanted. He started his opening monologue, drinking a glass of beer, by telling the crowd to "Shut up." In about seven minutes, Gervais insulted Caitlyn Jenner, Jeffrey Tambor, Roman Polanski, Jennifer Lawrence, and the film companies in general. The worst insults flew to Mel Gibson later on.
The F-bombs continued throughout show, leading an LA Times writer to conclude , "The hardest-working person at Sunday night's Golden Globes ceremony may have been whoever was in charge of the bleep button."
Gervais also advised the actors who would receive awards, "Don't get emotional. It's embarrassing. Okay? That award is, no offense, worthless." Some of the more emotional speeches of the night were from Lady Gaga, Denzel Washington, and Sylvester Stallone.
Discussion Starters:
What's your view of the profanity in the Golden Globes? Did it add to or detract from the night?
How does Gervais's opening monologue differ from roast speeches? Consider a few examples and compare the purpose, audience, and setting.
Do you share Gervais's opinion that people shouldn't "get emotional"? What would you advise people who accept awards?
The Federal Trade Commission's guidelines are clear: when people are paid to write social media posts that relationship must be disclosed. This applies to company employees. Two incidents this week show companies skirting those rules.
ESPN employees tweeted about Dominos, but didn't disclose their relationship to ESPN. By law, the tweets should include #ad or #spon to identify a sponsored ad.
ESPN responded to a request by Deadspin, calling the tweets an "error":
ESPN says this is all a mistake and that future tweets associated with Domino's ad buy with the network will be compliant with federal law. Which is fine, though we're still skeptical that New Year's Eve means either college football or pizza-and so were the millions of fans who didn't tune in for this year's college football playoff games.
Yet, a couple of days later, an ESPN journalist tweeted another advertisement. The company has argued that journalists aren't paid endorsers, and a Wall Street Journalarticle explains, "the issue of whether [ESPN's] roster of pundits and anchors are journalists guided by traditional editorial strictures or entertainers allowed to hawk products has been a thorny one for some time." However, Deadspin argues that Schefter and Mortensen are clearly "personalities," and the connection to the brand is clear.
This issue isn't new. The FTC admonished Cole Han for promotions on Pinterest, and I'm sure others have been caught.
Discussion Starters:
We could argue that identifying ads is just a technicality. Some accuse the FTC of being too snarky about social media posts. What's your opinion on the issue?
Would a hashtag identifying the posts as ad change your perspective on the post? How do you think fans would be influenced either way?
Business Communication and Character
Leadership Character and Communication, Amy Newman, Cornell University
Chipotle is working hard to improve its food safety procedures and its image. After several reported E. coli outbreaks, the company announced a four-hour closing of its 1,900 stores to retrain its employees. The meeting was live-tweeted via @ChipotleTweets.
