257: Web of Fury: The Hidden Forces Fueling Online Anger and Viral Vengeance

Every Single day, my TikTok account is tagged numerous times by people looking for my take on situations that seemingly warrants an apology. These tags likely come my way for what? I suppose some people assume I have expertise in analyzing corporate and celebrity apologies. I by no means think I'm the best at doing this, but it's something that I think about and look at frequently when what stands out to me in the majority of the videos that people tag me on is this prevailing sentiment of anger. People are demanding either justice or an explanation. So in the video I'm about to play, this woman wants an explanation from a popular clothing brand. Be advised, this video contains explicit language, so listener discretion is advised.

What the actual VANS was on the way to my workout class and I saw a guy frantically throwing these shoes in front of the van store. And I stood there like kind of confused and he was like, vans just like dumped all of these to throw out. And I was like, what do you mean? Vans literally threw out all these shoes and not only did they just throw out these shoes on the street in their boxes, they cut them so people could not use them. They had all the vans, I guess, out for recycling in these boxes and they cut them so people could not use them. These are literally baby shoes. He was showing me all of this and I was like, they went through and slashed every single pair of shoes so that these brand new shoes could not be worn with the homeless population in the city. This is absolutely disgusting. I'm actually walking by VANS now and it's all cleaned up like it's all gone. I said to the guy that was dumping all the shoes out, like, good for you for making a point and throwing all these shoes in front of the store. Please tag VANS in this video. I don't know if this was like a higher up sort of protocol or if it's just something the Vans Philly store did, but honestly, I will not be going back there anytime soon.

Foreign. Welcome to the Indestructible PR podcast. I'm Molly McPherson, sharing breaking news and pop culture zeitgeist moments that aren't just for social media. Each week I pick a buzzy story, analyze the juicy bits, and follow up with a PR lesson using tried and true media and PR tricks of the trade. This episode is going to help you dodge any type of crisis curveball to help you build a reputation that's not just strong, it's indest. So why are brands and people flamed on social media? Let's look at the realm of anger and what's behind it. So in this digital age that we all live in, it's no surprise that we are witnessing a constant stream of public apologies from major beer brands, reality TV stars, and even private individuals who find themselves in the eye of the viral storm. Now, speaking of major beer brands, you know, anyone who's a listener knows that I was eyeballs deep into the whole Bud Light fiasco last week. Last Saturday, I went to a Bruce Springsteen concert, and it was a great concert. We decided at the last minute to just. We didn't have tickets. I had tickets earlier in the week that I did not use, and I gave those away because that's what you have to do when you have kids who go to college, when you buy Bruce Springsteen tickets. But anyway, but I went with someone and we ended up just driving to Foxborough and at the gate, we just went to the phone, opened up the app, just started looking for seats. And I said, I have to go in deep. I have to go to general admission right in the pit right there to watch Bruce Springsteen because I don't know how many more Bruce Springsteen concerts I have in me or even as he has in them. And I just wanted to do that. So we did that. But something that I noticed walking in of Oxborough is all the beer was Bud Light and there was everybody in line, you know, for their Bud Light beer. But I come back to this anyway. But the reason why I wanted to talk about this topic at this moment is because it comes up so frequently in my work. The last two weeks, I have been working with clients on their viral outrage moments. And I will let you know that I have created a new offering that aligns better with my schedule, which is more of a quick hit. So I'm calling it a quick hit crisis communication plan. And this is really for people who find themselves just in the eye of the storm, because that's where crisis communication is right now. I write plans for people. I'm writing a plan for a client right now, but it is this long, drawn out plan to prepare for some type of blacklash. But what do you do when the backlash happens at the moment? So that's why I wanted to focus on this today, because I'm in the thick of it. I am in the thick. And I just got an email from a client right now who is being savagely attacked online. And the psychology behind it, I think is interesting. So I wanted to share that with you all as well. And you also may think, well, why does this matter to me? I mean, I'm Talking about brands. And that's where you're going to see it from. Brands, they're going to be called out. A friend of mine just sent me a text this morning, link to an article about Alice Cooper who was called out because he made anti trans comments and he was working with a makeup brand. They dropped him. So that will be, you know, a TikTok later on today. But this idea of the call out and this viral revenge or vengeance or outrage is really such a part of my business right now. So I want to share it with you all. And also to keep in mind, it's not just for brands, it's not just for famous people, it's for people. Definitely. Like I would say in my space, it's people who are known to their communities, but more and more people who are just regular people are being called out publicly. So I think it's important to understand why people do and understand what you can do if that happens to you. Now, in the clip that I played in the open, that was from Vans and you know, I was tagged multiple times on the Vans video. And when I saw it, you know, at my age, you know, I've been around a number of decades, this idea of merchandise being destroyed, I have a familiarity with it. I've never. No, I was going to say I've never worked in retail, but I did, you know, back in the day I worked for Dayton's, which no longer exists. It was owned by Hudson's, but I would work at their warehouse so I could get the Dayton's discount, which was just the best discount in the world. But this idea of destroying merchandise really is not that uncommon. But for someone who's young and perhaps who's never worked in retail, she was absolutely shocked. Now, the person in that video was younger. I'm going to put them late college age, early 20s. They're walking down the street in Philadelphia and they're absolutely appalled that there would be a pile of Vans, which is a desirable brand, sitting on a sidewalk. And all of the waste is clearly what got to her. Now she takes her grievance to TikTok, as many people do, and that's why so many people take me on it. Now, you may be wondering, did Vans respond? Now, normally when people tag me on brands and it happens a lot, the company will not respond. I was surprised to see that Vans was responding to people tagging me on this account. So it puts them in a pretty difficult position and what I noticed in their response. So let me read it first to you. So this Came under. So someone tagged me and they said mollybmcpherson, I guess this doesn't follow your framework, does it? And this is what the van's TikTok account said. We will always prioritize donating usable products to those in need. After investigating, we confirmed these products were deemed unsafe to donate. I was surprised that they responded on TikTok and then I was surprised that they repeated that statement over and over and over again on TikTok. Now, is that the smart thing to do? Now this is a tough spot for vans because, you know, destroying unsold merchandise is a somewhat common practice. You know, they're not the only ones who've done it, but they're the only ones who have to respond to it on TikTok. So there are other retailers. So I was looking this up. I wanted to know, okay, what have other retailers done in the past? And not many come forward with responses. I found an article that was on HuffPo, but they had quoted a 2010 Slate post talking about high end clothing companies in particular choose to destroy unsold merchandise rather than donate it. So the Slate post cited fashion journalist Erica Kowalik. She claimed that she knew a quote, very high up and profitable and quote fashion label that sent $2 million worth of clothing and purses to the shredder rather than donating the goods. And the reason they don't want the wares to end up in the unwashed masses or in some unsightly discount bin. They don't want to end up, you know, on ebay. They don't want to end up, you know, like in a Marshalls maybe somewhere or in a Goodwill. And if so many brands contribute to this practice, you know, then why did vans take the hit and did they deserve it? Well, vans took the hit because someone at that vans retailer decided to dump all the property in the front of the building as someone was walking by it almost, you know, because when people see brand new merchandise, you're going to draw people. It's like moths to a flame. So did that response work for Vans? I'm going to tell you, I don't think so. Now is it wise for vans to take their statement paste it over and over and over again? I don't know the numbers on that. I don't know if that's the right thing to do. I don't like it. It's robotic, it's copy and paste. It doesn't seem authentic at all. And that's what messaging is supposed to be. My big bugaboo with this post, however, is that I don't believe it because this is a fairly common practice with, you know, higher end brands or, you know, brands with a label, a highly desirable label for vans to come out and say that it was deemed unsafe to donate. That just seems like a downright lie. How's a shoe unsafe to donate? I believe if it were me and I was running the VANS communication department or social media, I just wouldn't respond. I would let it go. And one of the reasons why I would let it go is because so many other brands do the same practice. But does that make it right? I believe they could get into a place where if this does grow, they could come out with a statement and acknowledge the situation because some brand at some point likely is going to have to do this. And they could acknowledge that they dispose unsold clothing through destruction methods. And it's a practice that's consistent with many brands in the industry. But maybe now they're reconsidering it. You know, maybe they could atone for it and be more committed to doing better. They understand that it's frustrating to people and people may be disappointed in the brand. But then you explain exactly what happens. It protects brand integrity and it ensures that counterfeits do not enter the marketplace. And maybe you could say, but there might be more responsible alternatives, so you could pause on those activities, or we're in the process of conducting that review and actually mean it. You could state that you're aware that these actions have broader implications, you know, not just for the environment, but maybe for communities and needs and so promise, you know, some immediate actions. You know, maybe we're partnering with charitable organizations to donate it. Maybe there are future measures there, initiatives like recycling, upcycling, you know, something where it is understandable again that you don't want more desirable brands to end up in places where it diminishes the brand. It's a business decision and again, reasonable people understand this. So that's the type of messaging there. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about what exacerbates that issue where people have to make statements like that. So nowadays we're just seeing, you know, with, as I mentioned, you know, all these apologies, they're coming out because these brands are in the eye of the storm. You know, their name is being destroyed online. So there's this surge of online anger that targets brands and targets individuals. And it is more than a trend. People don't do it just to do it. They do it because there's something inside that makes them want to do it. There's this escalation of the negativity that's out there because people want to do that. So why should you care about this idea? Why should you care about the practice? Is because a digital environment can be a very toxic environment. And I've worked with a lot of brands. I worked with a lot of organizations, profit, nonprofit, not for profit, where they are dealing with this type of blowback and they're completely thrown by it. No one is immune to it. No one. I've been attacked online and it does something to you. It affects you. But I've also seen things where I wanted to attack online. Mostly I want to attack people who come at me in my comments. Those are the people. I just want to go for them. Right? But we don't. So I've been researching this topic for a while. So I want to give you three reasons that I see on social media every single day. And I see it with my clients. And oh boy, like I mentioned, have I seen this with my clients. Oh my gosh, even right now, I am in the thick of it with a client. Oh, my goodness. They're dealing with just plain old online revenge. And it is something to behold. Definitely. Okay, so this topic for this week, the reason why I'm mentioning it is because Eleanor Hawkins, I have worked with her before, so she edits the newsletter for Comms for Axios. It's a terrific newsletter. I have a link in the show Notes, but she did a really, really good take on public apologies, and she wanted to look at why companies need to apologize nowadays. So she reached out to me and ironically, we had scheduled a time for this interview and I couldn't meet that time because I was in the thick of it with another client, someone who's online on TikTok primarily, who was being excoriated online. I was in the middle of our response and I couldn't do that interview with her, so we rescheduled. And when I came to that interview, I thought, oh, I have such a fresher perspective on it right now. And so she had asked me about, you know, why these things happen. And I had told her and she had quoted me that these social media firestorms. I was going with the fire theme and flaming on social media. So you'll hear that a lot nowadays. I am not of the storm and the. Well, I just did just mention the eye of the hurricane, didn't I? But trying to get away from the storm metaphors because every crisis person uses that I'm talking about fire. But what I was mentioning to her is these social media firestorms can envelop like the brands, you know and consume their reputation. It just, you know, absolutely incinerates the reputation and it happens quickly. But what is fueling that too is on social media, it's created in a way that these happen more frequently. So Eleanor had cited in her story that there is a correlation between what's read and, and what's posted. So she cited a 2014 study from Proceedings of the National Academy of sciences that predates TikToks, which is a now highly personalized algorithm. It's much different than Facebook, much different than Reddit, where it's driven a lot by the recency of a post. You know, how recent was that post? And then how many people like that recent post? But when there's more negativity attached to that post, there's more attention placed on it. So she had quoted me as saying, that's why more people need to be prepared to quickly explain issues, apologies or acknowledgements. Because if there's a lack of an apology or a lack of acknowledgement, there will be retribution and people will deem the lack of apology as yet another grievance. So they'll need to apologize even more. That wasn't a great quote, but anyway. But that's what I was talking about. So these firestorms that are happening now, they are happening in a way that really create problems for brands. And so this surge of online anger has significant implications. And I would say there was a long, long, long time and we're still there, where brands and people reflexively felt they had to apologize immediately. Believe it or not, even though I'm known as this apology queen, not self appointed by any means. I'm just basing that on my tags that people are constantly sending me, which I appre. But I am at a place now I don't feel like everybody needs to apologize. We need to explain more. We need to go to the explanation. It's not really an apology, but we acknowledge it. Again, the indestructible PR framework. You want to do the O, P E? Yeah, you know me, that's the first time. I just realized it this morning when I was looking at own it, explain it and promise it. I thought I need an acronym. That's easy. Like how could I do this? Like, oh, does this come up with a word now? O P, E. Now I could put an R in front of it. I'm going to do my thinking with all of you Right now, should I call it rope? Respond. Oh, how to respond? Own it, explain it, promise it. That's not rope. Okay, I'm going to need to rethink this acronym. If anyone can come up with an acronym for me or help me make this easier, feel free to send it my way. But let's talk about now the three reasons why I think there's this proliferation of online anger that's aimed at brands and aimed at you potentially. Now so much of it, when I explain it to clients, like just yesterday, this is how I broke it down with a client who's dealing with an issue with employees. So I want to keep this as private as possible because I have non disclosures with all my clients, but they're dealing with an employee issue that has definitely spread into the public space. And I told this client, and there's different levels of it, like we just don't want it to get to certain digital levels. And it did. So I was focusing on, you know, why this was happening and the client. I'm dealing with this team, but the one client who's the face of it, really taking everything personally, like tears. And I explained, you know, what you were going through is very, very personal. And that's not that different than a divorce. And they were expecting the separation of business to happen more seamlessly. But I said, look at it like a divorce and an acrimonious divorce. How do those go? They don't go well. There's a lot of outrage, there's a lot of anger, there's a lot of retribution when that happens. I said, that's what you're going through. You're going through a divorce and you're both fighting over custody for the kids. And it's getting ugly. And part of the reason why it's ugly is because people are now taking sides or they see something happening and they're going to come and swarm, like in the case of this client. So these are the three reasons why I think there is such. All these crises now have so much viral outrage attached to it. The first point is this. It's anonymity in so many cases because anonymity of affords the people on the Internet the ability to express themselves without any consequence. They can say whatever they want because they have this invisibility cloak around them. So it emboldens people. They're more aggressive, they're more confrontational than they would be face to face or if their name was attached to it or if their profile photo was there. So this disconnect between online Actions and real world repercussions. It kind of fuels this willingness to express anger more openly. Where we see this is Reddit. More and more with my clients now. Wow. More and more I've become a Reddit queen when I have to like just download and chill. Now when I go on my phone, like, okay, you just gotta look at stuff. I just go to Reddit because Reddit helps me out with my job, because I get in the psychology people. But you can learn so much. Like, for my business, I get asked all the time, how can I learn more about crisis comms? How can I do what you do? You want to know what you do? Go to Reddit. Go to Reddit and figure out how would you fix that. So anonymity is number one. Number two is instant gratification and the lack of repercussions. Social media platforms are designed for this quick reactive responses. So the ease where someone can just like something, post something, share something, comment on something, show outrage on something, it just creates and fosters this culture of instant gratification. I want it, I want it now. I feel this way. I gotta put it out right now. And when people have anger, they want to put it out. Like imagine just like fighting someone on text. If you've gone through something where you've gone through a confrontation with a person, think of how you've let that out. Is it texting, is it screaming at them, is it yelling at them? Well, people are doing the same thing, but they're doing it on social media. But what makes it better? So think if you've ever been in a situation where someone has wronged you, you and you were able to look them in the eye and tell them what they did and tell them, I am onto you, I know what you're doing and this is what I think of you. It feels so good in that moment. But one of the letdowns is there's no one else to enjoy that with you. There's no one else standing right next to you going, nicely done. Don't you feel better? No. But you know where that happens? Social media. Imagine just letting it all out and then having all these other people cheer you on and say the same thing and pile on, and pile on, and pile on. That is one of the biggest reasons why there is viral outrage. And three, this idea, tribalism. So these online platforms, I just heard it again with, you know, talking with my client and their team. It's an echo chamber. It is an absolute echo chamber. It reinforces beliefs that certain people have and their Opinions. I'm watching it now in Reddit, the opinions about my client, they're wrong. They're wrong. And I see it over and over and over. It's just perpetuating over and over and over. They're just lies. But when someone sees someone's outrage, oh my gosh, well, they must be right. So this tribalism fuels this collective anger. And where does tribalism exist? In like minded communities where everyone is drawn to that community. And that's where Reddit is really, really big with that. And emotion becomes like a group sentiment. So instead of having a bunch of individual sentiments, they group together and then they target a brand or a celebrity. They target Bud Light, or they support Kid Rock, or they go after Bud Light, or they go after Kid Rock. And isn't it interesting that recently there was a photo. TMZ posted a photo of Kid Rock drinking beer. Can anyone guess the brand he was drinking? Oh, yeah, a Bud Light. Now those were the three reasons. Now there's one more underlying reason that adds to all of those points that I just mentioned, something that makes it worse. And this is something that Eleanor cited in her newsletter. As a matter of fact, she put it in her headline because I told her. And I had just gotten off the phone with my client when I hopped on the phone with her and I told her, I said, this is the biggest problem. And she took it and ran with it. Which is the reason why her newsletter received incredible traction. I mean, that edition of it, because of the topic, it's so well written. But I mentioned the algorithm. This is driving social media platforms to amplify negative commentary. It just creates this pressing need for. What I do is creating swift, clear apologies or explanations. You've got to be on it. All right, so what's the solution? What do you do if this happens to you? I mean, clearly you do need an effective crisis management strategy. And it's not just for companies, it's not just for brands, it's for people, just for regular people. Everybody needs to know how to respond, even on social media. I am now getting calls from people who I follow on social media. They're just a person, but then something happens to them. And now they're calling me, like, what do I say? What do I do? So my job now, I have hourly consulting. It's like partly therapy and part professional therapy, personal and professional. So these are the things that you should do. You know, with the complexity of online anger, driven by the factors I just mentioned, you know, anonymity, instant gratification, tribalism, you have to approach the issue in a more practical, critical thinking way. One, you have to have a strategy, a crisis communication strategy in place to tackle it. And the easiest way to do it is just use my indestructible PR framework. You know, opp. Yeah, you know me, I'm just going with that for now. Own it, explain it, promise it. Okay? Just own up to what happened, explain why it happened, and then promise to either do better or do differently or whatever it is. It's as simple as that. That is a crisis communication strategy. It speaks to it. So you can move on. You can also directly engage with people who are expressing anger. I don't like getting into the thick of it when people are coming at you online and they're just angry. You know, that's why I tell my clients, like in the case of this client right now, and then another one that I had the previous week, don't dive in. You don't need to. Just don't for now. I know it's hard, it's difficult. We have your response. We just need to wait until this thing happens and then all the truth will be revealed. It's really difficult to sit in that gray area though, and I understand that. But professionally you do need to respond. And when you do now, you need to engage in that dialogue. So when possible, engage directly with those expressing anger. Not the trollish anger, but people. Perhaps if you're a brand, if you're a person on social media, maybe you're an organization that's real Facebook driven, or you have a community, maybe a Facebook group. Go in there where people know you in your community and start talking it out and explain it. Do it with the people who are reasonable. Don't just respond to superfans. Do it with reasonable people who will understand you. It will make you feel better. So don't feed the trolls, but aim to engage with those whose anger or confusion stems from a legitimate grievance. So maybe you did do something wrong or maybe something you said was taken out of context. This will give you a place to explain it. And finally, you do want to check though, if you are a brand yourself or you work for an organization. You need to have that type of moderation, that third party moderation where you have a distance and also the ability to fact check, the ability to look at what's being said. And you need a person who's unbiased to add that layer of scrutiny. If you get the person who's emotional, you know, I was talking to someone this week who you know, the client who I'm dealing with wants to go in and do the back and forth and talk, which I get part of it. They need to speak to their people. They need to just let it all out, right? But when that person does it in only one community, the safe community, and nowhere else, it gives the impression that they only want to respond to the people who love them and not to the people who have legitimate grievances. So it's a bit of a dance. But you want to have someone in there, at least that can be unbiased and add that other layer of scrutiny that you may need. Now, if you adopt these ideas, these methods, you can handle any incident that happens to you. You can effectively at least calm yourself down and work towards creating a better culture for you or your brand or your business or your organization that can minimize this propensity for the anger to just take hold in your community in the first place. At the end of every episode, I include one indestructible PR tip. It is a practical takeaway to help you build an indestructible reputation. So an effective strategy to dismiss online anger and just feel better about yourself is to practice cognitive reframing. This technique helps you to alter your perception of the situation by just viewing it through a different lens, and it's one that diminishes its emotional grab over you. So, for instance, instead of viewing an online attack as a personal affront, just reframe it as a manifestation of someone else's own issues or stress or ignorance. The more you depersonalize the situation, it will reduce the emotional impact it has on you. Just remind yourself that the online environment can sometimes bring out the worst in people, and that comments often say more about the commenter than about you. And there you have it. So I'm eager to hear your thoughts on today's topic. So join the conversation by checking checking out my social media post this week. All right, everyone, thanks for tuning in. Bye for now.