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A Public Relations Disaster

This document summarizes a public relations disaster experienced by United Airlines. A musician had his guitar broken during a United Airlines flight. United refused to compensate him for the damage despite his repeated requests over 9 months. In response, the musician wrote and published a song on YouTube called "United Breaks Guitars" that went viral with over 10 million views. The negative publicity severely damaged United's reputation and stock price. It serves as a lesson about how poor customer service can be amplified by social media.

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74 views

A Public Relations Disaster

This document summarizes a public relations disaster experienced by United Airlines. A musician had his guitar broken during a United Airlines flight. United refused to compensate him for the damage despite his repeated requests over 9 months. In response, the musician wrote and published a song on YouTube called "United Breaks Guitars" that went viral with over 10 million views. The negative publicity severely damaged United's reputation and stock price. It serves as a lesson about how poor customer service can be amplified by social media.

Uploaded by

vermaashlene
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A Public Relations

Disaster
How saving $1,200 cost United Airlines
10,772,839 negative views on YouTube
It is a customer service nightmare. At the same time, it is a good lesson about how social media can

impact your business.

Here's what happened:

A singer/songwriter named Dave Carroll was flying from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Omaha, Nebraska,
with a layover at Chicago's O'Hare airport. As he was getting ready to get off the plane, he heard
another passenger say, "My God! They're throwing guitars out there!"

As Dave and the other band members looked out onto the tarmac where the luggage was being
unloaded, they recognized the guitars. Their reaction was a blend of terror and disbelief.

Later he indeed discovered that his $3,500 Taylor guitar's neck had been broken.

What followed was a customer service nightmare. Dave tried for nine months to get a claim processed
with United. The response was a firm and consistent "no." They claimed he had waited longer than 24
hours to process a claim, so he was out of luck.

He tried phone calls. He tried e-mails. He even went so far as to suggest that instead of money,
United give him $1,200 in flight vouchers to cover the cost of repairing the guitar. United held firm.
They said "No."

So, what else could a singer-songwriter do?

That's right. He wrote a song and produced a music video. The song was titled "United Breaks
Guitars." He put it up on YouTube and it went viral.

Now just in case you're not up on this particular piece of internet slang, "viral" means one person
sends it to ten of their friends, who send it to ten of their friends, who send it to ten of their friends,
and so on. It follows the same pattern of how a bad cold gets passed around. (Hence the name.)

It also means that pretty quickly very large numbers of people were singing along to "United Breaks
Guitars."

As of this writeup, this video has had 10,772,839 views.


the video go dwa
, 0 0 0 views, United contacted Dave Carroll and offered payment to make
In fact, he suggested they
wasn't about the money anymore.
ldnged his mind, however. It
donate the money to a charity.

Oted also discovered that "United Breaks Guitars" wasn't just a single song. It was part ora triiogy

Breaks
views on YouTube. "United
a r , "United Breaks Guitars Song 2" has generated 1,322,582
Guitars Song 3" has generated 405,790 views. All together, that's over 12.5 million negative

impressions.

That's a lot of people listening to catchy tunes about United's customer service.

Of course, the impact of Dave's song went far beyond YouTube.

internet phenomenon, the news media pickea up


As United Breaks Guitars Song 1" was becoming an
stories abOut
across North America were doing
the story. Soon newspapers and news broadcast media
he retold
the song. Dave became a sought after guest on many radio and TV shows where, of course,
the story of "United Breaks Guitars." He did over 200 interviews in the first few montns.

videos that others have


Then the copy cats and parodies started. There are now countless add-on
Inside Response from
posted on YouTube. They range from a parody called, "United Breaks Guitars
United Airlines" to "Hitler Finds Out United Breaks Guitars."

Add a rew million more views to the discussion about United.

Airlines? When you look at the "United Breaks


How has the public felt about this portrayal of United 50-to-
it against 1,012 dislikes. That's roughly a
Guitars Song 1," 51,327 people voted that they liked
1 ratio against United.

results.
A recent Google search of the term "United Breaks Guitars" returned 2,690,000

for the
Remember the offer from Dave to accept $1,200 worth of travel vouchers as compensation
to songs about how they wish they'd
repair costs? Compare that to millions of people singing along
...flown with someone else....or gone by car..because United breaks guitars..."

describes an entire shuttle filled with passengers who


One story out of Newark, New Jersey
Guitars" while traveling between terminals.
spontaneously began singing "United Breaks

had an effect on people's decision in choosing an


This tsunami of bad public relations has certainly
weeks of the
stock price dropped by 10% within three to four
airline. The BBC reported that United's
million.
video a decrease in valuation of $180
release of the
United is clearly the loser.

Not everyone did it wrong

famous guitar- and who are referenced in the video-


who made the now
Taylor Guitars, the people
had their own response.
ney gave Dave a new Taylor Guitar. But that's not all.

C their own YouTube video. In it, they stated how unhappy they become when any guitar
a g e d and reminded people about their repair services. They also offered free information
about how to travel
safely with guitars.
u i c k I y produced two-minute video has generated 562,777 views.

positive action.
e Out an unanticipated winner in this adventure by taking

What does this mean for your business?

can get a following overnight. A website


such as www.your
Y C n a world where YouTube videos
can be set up and operational
in about an hour.
S-sucks.com
Information now travels at
a philosophy of doing the right thing is more important than ever.
aing
n e speed of the internet. Sadly, bad news seems to travel faster than good news.

because of its public relations value. This


Dut dont just approach the idea of "doing the right thing"
successful business.
pnilosophy is rightly the foundation of any sound,
fans. Use that
Turn your customers into raving
Deliver exceptional service and high quality products.
counter an unhappy
base of support to get positive reviews on
social media sites. The way to
five-star ratings already in place.
Customer's one-star rating is by having ten

customers. Next, encourage them tO share those positive


So first, earn the positive reviews from your
reviews with others.

create a catchy music video.


avoid antagonizing anyone who
can
And try to

Building an excelent reputation

single event.
excellent reputation is a process. It's not a
Building an

actions over a period of time. There are


the result of many positive
An excellent reputation is
can accelerate the process.
some strategies that
however,

starts singing songs about you.


them is now, before anyone
The best time to implement

595-1288 and well set up a phone


call Sentium at (800)
you'd
If explore your options,
like to situation and how to improve
where we can discuss your
no obligation meeting
meeting. This is a free,
it.

Guitars Song 1" on YouTube.


out "United Breaks
In the meantime, check

To Your Business Success,

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