Real Time Media and Public Relations

Not every company is as lucky as Oreo. This summer when they posted a photo of a rainbow stuffed Oreo cookie on their Facebook in honor of Gay Pride Month, the company stirred quite a bit of buzz. Surprisingly, the buzz was not completely negative. 

Oreo Sentiment Graph, Credit SalesForce Marketing Cloud

On social media, fans of the cookie and their stance on gay rights stuck up for the brand in comments, posts, blogs and tweets. The company did not have to handle the controversial issue on their own, their fans helped them respond to their crisis directly. 

But, due to some of the responses on the Facebook page, the post and comments that followed the post were deleted. Obviously, Oreo has not experienced any backlash. It's 2013 and the Oreo brand is still in full effect. However, Oreo's response to the post came in a timely manner to the issue when many news sources and consumers were commenting on the post. 

“We are excited to illustrate what is making history today in a fun and playful way,” the company rep said in an email to ABC News. “As a company, Kraft Foods has a proud history of celebrating diversity and inclusiveness. We feel the OREO ad is a fun reflection of our values.”

While this situation is no where near the situation United Airlines faced in the case introduced in Chapter One of "Real-Time Marketing & PR", Oreo handled the situation considerably better than United. They did not ignore the situation or make light of it, and while there were still negative responses that were highly publicized (I'm looking at you, Buzzfeed), that was not the majority of responses. 

I could not find any articles measuring a change in the brand after this post. But, Bangor Daily News perfectly summed up the best case scenario for the company: the company, which is over a century old, looks cutting edge. I believe that Oreo did what the United Airline's of the world would not because they stand firmly behind their consumers, whether they agree with their personal opinions or not. Responding firmly and quickly while being sensitive to the opinions of others cemented Oreo as a company that does not idly throw out support about issues, but a company that has beliefs it fully supports that played it smart on social media, had fans that supported them as well and prevented a larger crisis as a result. 

Scott, D. M. (2011). Real-time marketing & PR: how to instantly engage your market, connect with customers, and create products that grow your business now. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.