WEBVTT
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00:00:05.350If outrage had a season, it would be late summer 2025.
00:00:05.350 -->
00:00:08.843Tennis matches, baseball games, a Diane Sawyer interview.
00:00:08.843 -->
00:00:14.426Honestly, I didn't realize Diane Sawyer was still working at ABC News and that jeans ad it's back.
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00:00:20.746All of it has been caught in the churn and every headline, it seems, carries the same word backlash.
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00:00:22.231But let's get something straight.
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00:00:25.841My opinion, backlash and blowback aren't the same thing.
00:00:25.841 -->
00:00:30.772Let me tell you what I told people on stage last week at a keynote in Columbus, ohio.
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00:00:35.631There is a difference and it makes a big difference to news coverage and reputation.
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00:00:44.689It's the week of September 8th 2025, a week that a crisis manager like myself gets herself organized because I'm bracing for the hit.
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00:00:50.637September is the time where we see a lot of stories that cause a lot of reputational damage because they've been planned.
00:00:50.637 -->
00:00:53.924Late summer is when we see a lot of viral stories.
00:00:53.924 -->
00:00:58.460There's a newsy overlap between viral stories that take off in the summer.
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00:01:01.566Think Astronomer, american Eagle.
00:01:01.566 -->
00:01:07.834Taylor Swift appears on a podcast and that podcast explodes and then she's engaged.
00:01:07.834 -->
00:01:09.323Oh my gosh, double gasp.
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00:01:16.724That time of year allowed for a story like that to overtake the news cycle and also the social media cycle.
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00:01:22.141But let's look at the week in backlash First, did you see me on the Today Show last week?
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00:01:28.493Dr Beryl trying to win back its loyal base by adding a taste of Southern comfort back to the menu.
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00:01:38.795And when the public rises up around a cultural idea or an identity like Cracker Barrel, it could have a dramatic effect on the profits.
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00:01:41.528What you don't watch morning news anymore.
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00:01:46.890Sadly it's going down, but they did a great story about Cracker Barrel.
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00:01:51.371They asked me late in the day to record a piece that would air in a package the next morning.
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00:02:04.069Even if you watched it or not, what you didn't hear was my best soundbite where I explain that backlash is values-driven and blowback is more strategic, and knowing the difference is the only way to understand what you're actually watching.
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00:02:06.465Let's look at stories from this past week.
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00:02:08.991Case one the Phillies ball snatcher.
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00:02:12.164I know you saw the viral video.
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00:02:14.590It was Marlins versus the Phillies.
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00:02:19.493The baseball drops right in front of a female Phillies fan wearing a Phillies jersey.
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00:02:22.663She's next to, I believe, her husband and it looks like a younger adult son.
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00:02:24.425They're reaching down to get the ball.
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00:02:30.414Meanwhile dad scurries over, picks up the ball and then runs back and gives it to his son.
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00:02:35.872Then the woman jumps down, scurries to the dad and gives him a piece of her mind.
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00:02:37.383Enter the villain.
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00:02:44.026The woman crawls over the seat and storms down to the dad, insists that the ball belongs to her.
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00:02:48.699The dad puts his hands up, just puts it in the glove.
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00:02:52.191You took it from me.
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00:02:54.639You took it from me.
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00:02:56.723You took it from me.
00:02:56.723 -->
00:02:58.288You took it from me.
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00:03:04.633She gets booed and then she flips off the crowd so dangerous.
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00:03:12.187I think what we have here is a case of a dad who understands baseball culture and a woman who clearly does not.
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00:03:16.692Now I saw this viral clip on a weekend trip with three of my kids.
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00:03:21.639We went to Wrigley to visit my daughter, kate, who secured us with awesome seats.
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00:03:25.205She's in her first year of a job in sales in the developmental sales program.
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00:03:28.010We had an amazing day at Wrigley.
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00:03:29.393It was Cubs versus Nats.
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00:03:31.383We thought for sure the Cubs would beat the Nats.
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00:03:42.283Did not happen and, as a side note, jeff Garland from Curb your Enthusiasm threw out the opening pitch, which was really curious because he didn't throw it and I had said I posted this to Instagram.
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00:03:44.664I was asking my kids like, is this a bit Like?
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00:03:45.406What is he doing?
00:03:45.406 -->
00:03:48.587Immediately we all said like hey, wasn't he canceled?
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00:03:50.649And then we had to figure out why Jeff Garland was canceled.
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00:03:55.771But he didn't want to throw the ball, so he did this kind of bit where he just tosses it like he walks up to home plate.
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00:04:06.443It was odd, it was a curious move, but anyway, while that was happening, we were watching the viral clip about what happened at the Phillies game in Miami and there was something about that video.
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00:04:11.788I couldn't hear the sound, but there was something in the nonverbals that I saw that kind of stood out, and so I had to ask my son.
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00:04:14.462I'm like, well, wait a minute, here I see something.
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00:04:16.750And we discussed the rules.
00:04:16.750 -->
00:04:18.276Anybody's game, you know.
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00:04:20.946When a ball goes into the stands, it's anybody's ball.
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00:04:27.447And the other unwritten rule, like there's an unwritten rule in baseball, when a baseball goes in the stands, anybody can grab it.
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00:04:32.086And then the other unwritten rule if the ball is anywhere near a kid or an adult gets it.
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00:04:33.591You kind of give the ball to the kid.
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00:04:38.069I will say this from the beginning the woman was wrong.
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00:04:40.153There was no doubt she was wrong.
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00:04:43.007The dad great move to hand that ball back to the kid.
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00:04:44.091Why that event was amplified more, don't get me wrong.
00:04:44.091 -->
00:04:45.214The dad great move to hand that ball back to the kid.
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00:04:47.701Why that event was amplified more, don't get me wrong.
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00:04:52.192This woman was wrong, but I understand what ticked her off.
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00:04:54.461First of all, the ball comes in.
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00:04:56.286They're clearly going for it.
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00:04:59.040So she has an expectation that she's getting that ball.
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00:05:03.685He also knew baseball rules that he was allowed to snatch the ball for his son.
00:05:03.685 -->
00:05:05.108Of course he snatched the ball.
00:05:05.569 -->
00:05:11.901When emotion hijacks your rational thinking, it hijacked the woman, there's no doubt about it.
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00:05:13.427It hijacked the dad.
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00:05:14.067He saw a ball.
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00:05:15.130He's like I'm getting that ball.
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00:05:20.254But then the dad calmed himself and this is where I give him tremendous props.
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00:05:34.569He calmed himself instead of getting overly reactive, because we know there's plenty of baseball dad self for the sake of his son and people, parents who control their emotions for the sake of their kids those are the people who deserve kudos, in my opinion.
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00:05:40.341But that woman, when she walked back and she gave everyone the finger, I thought this woman has not been in enough ballparks.
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00:05:41.906She does not know what she's doing.
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00:05:43.752The outrage.
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00:05:46.523So that's where I ran to my media partner, muckrack.
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00:05:48.410I had to scour all the articles out there.
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00:05:53.047I had to watch the video spread and see the feedback comment sections.
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00:05:53.990They exploded.
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00:05:58.665Strangers online started sleuthing to figure out who she was and what I find fascinating.
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00:06:05.641People still don't know who she is and I have to give credit here, I actually don't know online because I was looking at Muckrak.
00:06:05.641 -->
00:06:07.505I don't know if she's been outed yet.
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00:06:09.932Honestly, maybe by the time of this recording.
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00:06:10.822She will have been outed.
00:06:10.822 -->
00:06:17.346But I like news outlets if they're not outing people, because personally I don't like vigilantism, I really don't.
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00:06:20.072This woman got beat up enough.
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00:06:24.504She got it in the stadium and she got it in the ballpark and she got it through viral footage.
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00:06:34.309I don't love outing this woman because her life will be just overrun and destroyed because of an emotional moment, and people need to understand when the emotion takes over.
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00:06:35.444It's what you do with it.
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00:06:38.521Now this dad has been doing the media rounds Immediately.
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00:06:44.613He spoke with NBC 10 in Philadelphia and explained that he was attending the game with his wife, daughter and son to mark the birthday.
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00:06:48.057He told the outlet quote we were just trying to make this week about him.
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00:06:51.529I felt like super dad, putting that ball in his glove and giving him a hug.
00:06:51.529 -->
00:06:57.988I wouldn't be surprised if Drew works in communication media or he's just a smart guy.
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00:07:01.041He knows how to put together a really good soundbite.
00:07:01.041 -->
00:07:06.603He explained that he's still in disbelief that she walked down there like that, so framing her as crazy.
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00:07:13.026He instead wanted to focus more on just trying to set an example of how to de-escalate a situation in front of my son.
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00:07:15.170I gotta hand it to Drew.
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00:07:24.122That's a great quote and in the video altercation the woman you could hear her say that was ours, so you know where the outrage came from.
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00:07:28.843Day to day she's probably a decent person, but in that moment she wanted that ball.
00:07:28.843 -->
00:07:30.802Now his last line left a mark.
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00:07:34.185He says, quote I hope that ball means a lot to her.
00:07:34.675 -->
00:07:36.583Drew passed the viral test.
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00:07:40.399Everybody thinks that he is a hero.
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00:07:41.641Kudos to the Marlins.
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00:07:45.105They went down immediately, gave him a gift bag, even though he's a Phillies fan.
00:07:45.105 -->
00:07:48.430Then, behind the scenes, we see footage of Dave Dombrowski.
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00:07:56.795He's the president of baseball operations and someone who I spoke to in line at Boston Logan Airport when he was headed down for spring training and I was headed to Florida for something else.
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00:08:04.125Then Harrison Bader, the player who made the home run, gave him a signed bat, and other people tried to profit off of it as well.
00:08:04.125 -->
00:08:07.550Marcus Limonis he was the star of the Prophet.
00:08:07.550 -->
00:08:12.517He offered the kid and his family a trip to the World Series.
00:08:12.517 -->
00:08:16.408Oh, and he's throwing in an RV as well, because he's the CEO of Camping World.
00:08:16.495 -->
00:08:20.185You're going to see a lot of that happening, but these viral moments are what the news lives for.
00:08:20.185 -->
00:08:21.350It's what social media lives for.
00:08:21.350 -->
00:08:22.735It's what social media lives for.
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00:08:32.639They love it because it taps into outrage, and outrage is backlash, just like what happened with case two, the hat grab.
00:08:32.639 -->
00:08:37.708It's another adult sports fan snatching a souvenir from a kid.
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00:08:39.356We're back in New York now.
00:08:39.356 -->
00:08:41.519A polis tennis star wins the match at the US Open.
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00:08:44.985A kid we're back in New York now A polis tennis star wins the match at the US Open, tries to give a signed hat to a boy in the crowd.
00:08:45.346 -->
00:08:46.988Enter the villain.
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00:08:58.498Before the kid can reach out, bam CEO snatches it from him.
00:08:58.498 -->
00:08:58.960The video blows up.
00:08:58.960 -->
00:08:59.461The outrage was swift.
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00:09:01.370The CEO eventually folded because everybody had to figure out who this guy was.
00:09:01.390 -->
00:09:02.294It's a viral moment.
00:09:02.294 -->
00:09:04.663Late August they're going to find out who he is.
00:09:04.663 -->
00:09:14.109He sends the hat back and he apologizes publicly and calling it quote extremely poor judgment and a painful but necessary lesson in humility.
00:09:14.109 -->
00:09:18.046That was a good call because that guy's business was struggling.
00:09:18.046 -->
00:09:26.600Plus, there was another Polish CEO who runs a very similar business who was attacked, whose business was attacked online.
00:09:26.600 -->
00:09:35.087This business owner told the New York Times that he had a deluge of phone calls that were so intense he couldn't cope and his Google ratings cratered.
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00:09:38.740This backlash can cause serious, serious problems.
00:09:38.740 -->
00:09:42.748That's why this CEO writing an apology was smart.
00:09:42.748 -->
00:09:43.875He needed to do that.
00:09:43.875 -->
00:09:50.182He said quote I'm an honest entrepreneur who's been building his image for so many years and in two days it was crushed to dust.
00:09:50.182 -->
00:09:51.886That's a great quote.
00:09:51.886 -->
00:09:55.576He was humble, he was showing humility.
00:09:55.576 -->
00:09:56.599That was a good move.
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00:09:59.905Again, it's that emotional, intensive moment.
00:09:59.905 -->
00:10:07.948You see a lot of it happening at sports where a person many times souvenir hunters or just people feel like they're owed something and they want it.
00:10:07.948 -->
00:10:12.606But backlash works where accountability is missing.
00:10:12.606 -->
00:10:15.884You either own it or you double down and say nothing.
00:10:15.884 -->
00:10:24.437The Polish CEO fan he chose the former because the public reaction made the other choice look smaller and meaner.
00:10:24.437 -->
00:10:30.317Here's another quick case of backlash that really kind of wasn't, but it was in the story.
00:10:30.818 -->
00:10:39.746I was reading a headline this morning, actually the day before this recording about Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, case three, and this one is not well known and didn't go as viral.
00:10:39.746 -->
00:10:43.785But I went back to Muckrack to look for the articles to see the point of view.
00:10:43.785 -->
00:10:50.008It was an interview with ABC News with Diane Sawyer interviewing Emma Hemming Willis.
00:10:50.008 -->
00:10:52.422That is Bruce Willis's wife.
00:10:52.422 -->
00:10:55.703She's much younger, she's a former model and they have young kids.
00:10:55.703 -->
00:11:00.067But of course more people are familiar with Bruce Willis's first wife, demi Moore.
00:11:00.067 -->
00:11:03.764Demi Moore also did an interview with Oprah.
00:11:03.875 -->
00:11:11.081There's a lot of stories out there about Bruce Willis's declining health and these are good stories because they're really shining a light on his health.
00:11:11.081 -->
00:11:25.299So clearly they have publicists trying to keep this story in the news and it's understandable and there's a value attached to it, because Bruce Willis is suffering from a progressive disease called frontotemporal dementia.
00:11:25.299 -->
00:11:26.520It's a brain disorder.
00:11:26.520 -->
00:11:31.583They're giving a lot of publicity to this disorder and that can always help.
00:11:31.583 -->
00:11:50.316And that's what things that she mentioned was the backlash, because people were judging her for putting Bruce Willis in a home to care for him as opposed to being home with her and the young kids.
00:11:50.316 -->
00:11:57.902One of the quotes that she said during the interview was that Willis was in great health physically but his brain is failing him.
00:11:57.902 -->
00:11:59.085That's just a great quote.
00:11:59.085 -->
00:12:00.676I like it because it's good framing.
00:12:00.796 -->
00:12:07.489And she mentioned that there was a lot of intense backlash on the internet judging her for putting him in a home.
00:12:07.489 -->
00:12:18.570They used backlash quite nimbly by using blowback as a means to explain why he's in a home.
00:12:18.570 -->
00:12:31.482Backlash is when people emotionally react to something, but planning for blowback can be quite strategic, which is what I think this story with Diane Sawyer and also Demi Moore speaking with Oprah.
00:12:31.482 -->
00:12:35.155They use it quite well all of it, and it's for the greater good.
00:12:35.155 -->
00:12:38.260The same blueprint is there with American Eagle.
00:12:38.260 -->
00:12:41.145Now I've talked about American Eagle at length.
00:12:41.145 -->
00:12:43.049I did a CNN hit a couple weeks ago.
00:12:43.049 -->
00:12:45.663That story ran for days.
00:12:47.395 -->
00:12:51.788And we're joined now by crisis and reputation strategist Molly McPherson.
00:12:51.788 -->
00:12:58.087All right, Molly, you, in a TikTok response to the ad, say everything is choreographed for a reason.
00:12:58.087 -->
00:13:01.961So help us understand the big question.
00:13:01.961 -->
00:13:05.966Do you think American Eagle expected a big reaction?
00:13:08.490 -->
00:13:09.351Absolutely.
00:13:09.351 -->
00:13:13.000This is the modern formula for outrage marketing.
00:13:13.000 -->
00:13:23.758You spark debate, you drive engagement, you ride the wave and then, when the dust settles, american Eagle gets the clicks, the coverage and also the cash.
00:13:23.758 -->
00:13:26.844Again, it happened in August, but it was strategic.
00:13:26.844 -->
00:13:29.797American Eagle knew that they were going to get blowback.
00:13:29.797 -->
00:13:31.782They were prepared for the blowback.
00:13:31.782 -->
00:13:35.378They rolled out the Sidney Sweeney campaign that lit up the internet.
00:13:35.378 -->
00:13:37.952That outrage wasn't a mistake, it was strategy.
00:13:37.952 -->
00:13:41.628They knew it would rile people up and they braced for it and they cashed in on it.
00:13:41.628 -->
00:13:49.157Even now, the second week of September on Muckrack I'm looking at the articles 20,000 articles covered this controversy in just one month.
00:13:49.157 -->
00:13:51.523This is the advantage also of being a brand.
00:13:51.523 -->
00:13:59.802Unlike the raging Phillies fan or a US Open CEO, american Eagle didn't have to face the center of the fire as a person.
00:13:59.802 -->
00:14:00.610It's just a logo.
00:14:00.610 -->
00:14:01.572It's just a brand.
00:14:01.572 -->
00:14:04.239A logo doesn't cry or feel shame.
00:14:04.239 -->
00:14:05.541It monetizes.
00:14:05.541 -->
00:14:06.624That's blowback.
00:14:06.624 -->
00:14:08.413Controversy is currency.
00:14:08.413 -->
00:14:09.375Here's the bigger picture.
00:14:09.375 -->
00:14:13.063This is why I think apologies have changed dramatically.
00:14:13.509 -->
00:14:16.842A couple weeks ago, I did an interview with Eleanor Hawkins.
00:14:16.842 -->
00:14:19.812She's the editor behind Axios, is the communicator.
00:14:19.812 -->
00:14:23.121If you work in communications, I highly recommend you subscribe to it.
00:14:23.121 -->
00:14:24.893Eleanor is wonderful.
00:14:24.893 -->
00:14:26.918She covers everything in comms.
00:14:26.918 -->
00:14:33.331She wrote a story about the age of the public apology is over and her argument is that the evidence is everywhere.
00:14:33.331 -->
00:14:38.552And she talked about American Eagle, the woman's dating app T didn't apologize when user data leaked.
00:14:38.552 -->
00:14:40.778The crowd strike when it grounded the airlines.
00:14:40.778 -->
00:14:43.871This was what two years ago and I was stuck in the middle of it.
00:14:43.871 -->
00:14:48.383They left out the oh sorry, and at that time it didn't work.
00:14:48.383 -->
00:14:49.592But now you can get away with it.
00:14:49.592 -->
00:14:51.798Look at Astronomer with the kiss cam.
00:14:51.798 -->
00:14:53.081They didn't apologize.
00:14:53.081 -->
00:14:56.100They handed over a bucket load of money to Ryan Reynolds.
00:14:56.100 -->
00:15:02.549So I told Eleanor in that article, quote People are simply tired of the outrage cycles and cancellation campaigns.
00:15:02.669 -->
00:15:06.321The public is splitting because they don't want to jump on someone else's grievance bandwagon.
00:15:06.321 -->
00:15:09.919So the translation an apology isn't guaranteed to calm the storm.
00:15:09.919 -->
00:15:11.129Sometimes it makes it worse.
00:15:11.129 -->
00:15:15.611So leaders are testing silence, defiance and private outreach instead.
00:15:15.611 -->
00:15:20.394That's what I was telling her in this interview and that's honestly what I'm telling a lot of my clients as well.
00:15:20.394 -->
00:15:23.235We don't have to rush to apologize.
00:15:23.235 -->
00:15:34.320I have a client right now dealing with to do that viral apology video and I said no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:15:34.320 -->
00:15:35.740That's just going to make it worse.
00:15:35.740 -->
00:15:39.241We're going to ride it out and we're going to do something different over here.
00:15:39.422 -->
00:15:45.044So here's the September lesson and what this month of outrage teaches us that backlash is values driven.
00:15:45.044 -->
00:15:47.985It's real people reacting when someone crosses a moral line.
00:15:47.985 -->
00:15:51.648That's why a woman leapt over seats and chased a baseball dad.
00:15:51.648 -->
00:15:53.568But blowback is strategic.
00:15:53.568 -->
00:16:00.633That baseball dad knew that that woman was going to get blowback.
00:16:00.633 -->
00:16:01.556That's what helped him reel in his anger.
00:16:01.556 -->
00:16:03.902What is more triggering than someone coming to attack you in front of your child?
00:16:03.902 -->
00:16:08.879But that dad braced for not his blowback, her blowback.
00:16:08.879 -->
00:16:10.221That's why it was smart.
00:16:10.341 -->
00:16:10.923Blowback.
00:16:10.923 -->
00:16:16.563Is that outrage sometimes manufactured, designed to drive clicks and shares and brand awareness.
00:16:16.563 -->
00:16:20.134And here's the kicker you can spot character in how people respond to backlash.
00:16:20.134 -->
00:16:21.840Do they apologize, defend, deny?
00:16:21.840 -->
00:16:22.802That's revealing.
00:16:22.802 -->
00:16:25.135But with blowback the reaction is already scripted.
00:16:25.135 -->
00:16:27.361The outrage was factored into the budget.
00:16:27.361 -->
00:16:40.846So next time you see backlash splashed across the headline, stop and ask are we witnessing a values clash or watching someone's playbook unfold, because one tells you who people really are and the other tells you how well they know the game.
00:16:40.846 -->
00:16:43.011That's all for this week on the podcast.
00:16:43.011 -->
00:16:45.495If you want to see a little bit more of a dive on this.
00:16:45.495 -->
00:16:54.706You can just follow me on the Substack app or you can join the membership, where I have monthly trainings and lives where we break it all down in the vault.
00:16:54.706 -->
00:16:59.522In other words, what's said in the vault stays in the vault.
00:16:59.522 -->
00:17:00.816That's all for this week.
00:17:00.816 -->
00:17:01.782Thanks for listening.
00:17:01.782 -->
00:17:02.485Bye for now.