194: Ingredients in a Social Media Crisis: Daily Harvest’s Crumbling Credibility

When there are victims involved in a crisis, they need to be shown compassion and assured that there will be no more victims. In this episode of the Indestructible PR Podcast we discuss the good, the bad, and the ‘even worse’ of how Daily Harvest handled their food poisoning crisis.Influencers took to TikTok to post about the gastrointestinal issues she experienced after consuming one of Daily Harvest’s products, the world of social media went up in arms and more victims came out of the woodwork. We look into how Daily Harvest handled the crisis, why they were manipulative, how they made the crisis worse, and how they deceived their customers. We also discuss how the presence of a victim in a crisis changes it and raises the stakes for the company at fault. Tune in to hear all this and get another indestructible PR tip about victims in a crisis. Key Points From This Episode:  Today’s topic of discussion: how Daily Harvest handled the online criticism they received when customers reported gastrointestinal issues after consuming one of their products. Abigail Silverman’s experience with Daily Harvest and the health issues they caused. How Daily Harvest handled the crisis – the playbook response.We read a portion of Daily Harvest’s email response to the reports and explain why it’s manipulative.Why Daily Harvest’s response to the crisis was more of a problem than the actual faulty product. We read some Reddit feedback on the product. How Daily Harvest is trying to cover the issue up and why it makes the crisis worse. Why a victim changes a crisis and why you should ‘go to’ them and speak to healing. Molly’s TikTok response about the Daily Harvest’s crisis. The importance of considering the victim’s feelings. Another mistake Daily Harvest made: deceptively hiding the problem by making the advisory difficult to find.The indestructible PR tip for today: Victims need somebody to blame, and for the owners to show empathy and remorse.Tweetables: “There was a recall of their food which caused problems for their customers. That is not an external incident, it’s an internal incident [and] Daily Harvest needs to own it.” — @MollyMcPherson [0:06:15] “For any brand dealing with a social media crisis, this is exactly what you don’t want to happen.” — @MollyMcPherson [0:12:09] “If your crisis has a victim then it’s going to be a whole different take on a crisis.” — @MollyMcPherson [0:12:30] Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Daily HarvestMolly McPherson on TikTok Abigail Silverman on Instagram Abigail Silverman on TikTok NBC News Reddit Listen and Subscribe on Apple Podcasts