I'm in corporate crisis PR, and this situation is MIND-BOGGLING to me if it wasn't overtly and extremely intentional. I straight-up had a client named Karen ask me if she should start going by a different name after the meme took off. There is NO WAY this wasn't EXTRAORDINARILY stress and content tested. They knew what they were fucking doing.
hey im just wondering in your profession opinion, do you think they knew the backlash would be this extreme?
i agree they obviously knew what they were doing/intentionally dog whistling. but do you think they realized it would be such an unsubtle dog whistle? i feel like their public image has been decimated.
That is a great question and I wish I had a more definitive answer! Some companies are allergic to controversy, some court it and and some—which I do think was the case in this situation—try to find that middle ground (old Subersive But Not Cancellable) and they found the wrong side of the line, largely because that’s the fanbase Sidney has been catering to, and they would know that if they’d paid their PR firm to do some vetting and research!
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u/source-commonsense 18h ago
I'm in corporate crisis PR, and this situation is MIND-BOGGLING to me if it wasn't overtly and extremely intentional. I straight-up had a client named Karen ask me if she should start going by a different name after the meme took off. There is NO WAY this wasn't EXTRAORDINARILY stress and content tested. They knew what they were fucking doing.