My old boss told me in 2019 to never apologize on social media, and I watched that advice blow up in his face last month

Sam Murphy · 2026-10-01T16:50:05.274167+00:00

Back when I worked at a small clothing shop in Portland, my manager Dave always said the worst thing a brand can do is say sorry online because it just makes everyone mad again. Fast forward to last month, his own store got called out for a size chart that was way off, and he stayed quiet for 6 days while comments piled up to 4,000. When he finally posted a half hearted note, people screenshot his old tweets about never apologizing and it got picked up by a drama account with 200k followers. Now I'm wondering if staying silent ever works anymore, or if the playbook flipped at some point. Has anyone seen a brand actually survive the silent treatment lately?

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My old boss told me in 2019 to never apologize on social media, and I watched that advice blow up in his face last month | Brand Drama Breakdown - SMM Buzz