That time a fast food chain's apology made things way worse

I remember this one burger place in Austin, back in 2019, they had that weird chicken sandwich shortage and then put out this weird apology video that was just their CEO staring at the camera for 2 minutes without talking. I sat there thinking, wait, did they actually try to be funny with this? It totally backfired because people got even more mad that they weren't taking it seriously. Has anyone else seen a brand's apology that just made the whole mess bigger?

3 comments

3 Comments

eric7231mo agoMost Upvoted

Honestly just say "we messed up" and offer something concrete, don't overthink it. Tried that whole "enhancing your experience" nonsense when I was helping a buddy with his food truck's social media and it just made everyone angrier. Keep it simple and real, people respect that way more.

charlie_ellis2mo ago

Haha oh man that CEO staring thing is gold. I once tried to apologize to my buddy for showing up late to his birthday party and I just stood there awkwardly for like 30 seconds before blurting out "the dog ate my car keys." It was a total disaster. I think the worst apology I've seen was when a donut chain tried to explain a price hike by saying they were "enhancing the customer experience" which just meant smaller donuts. People got so mad they started boycotting for like a whole month. Those corporate apology videos are always a trainwreck, they never just say "we messed up, here's free food.

nancybailey2mo ago

lol @charlie_ellis "enhancing the customer experience" just means "we want more money and you get less stuff" right? I swear corporate apologies are like that time a company said they were "right-sizing" their donuts and everyone knew it was just shrinkflation in a suit.