Botched an apology post and then tried a weird "thank you" approach instead

My brand's instagram pissed off a bunch of people with a tone-deaf meme about remote work last week, and our normal sorry-not-sorry response just made it worse. On a whim, I replied to each angry comment with a sincere "thanks for calling me out, I messed up" and nothing else. Has anyone else tried just owning the fail without the usual corporate spin?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey_harris2mo ago

Actually I read somewhere that this kind of direct owning up is way more effective than people realize. There was this whole study about how apologizing without excuses actually makes people trust you MORE than if you try to explain yourself. I think it's because we've all been burned by fake corporate apologies that say "we're sorry IF anyone was offended" which is just garbage. Your approach sounds like the right move honestly because you're treating each person like an actual human instead of a PR problem to fix. I bet some of those people even came around once they saw you weren't trying to spin it.

murphy.linda2mo ago

Wait, you're telling me I was wrong about how apologies work?

lauras831mo ago

And honestly that whole "if anyone was offended" stuff feels so insincere.