After admitting he used the “N-word” during a company conference call in May, Papa John’s founder and CEO John Schnatter resigned as chairman earlier this week. This was not the first time he received media backlash after his controversial comments. Schnatter, the public face of the company, had recently found himself in hot water after slamming the NFL leadership over players’ kneeling during the national anthem.
PR and Crisis Communications experts began drawing comparisons to the downfall of Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick after he found himself at the center of several public maelstroms. In the Business Insider article, “Papa John’s Founder-driven public relations nightmare reminds branding experts of Uber’s 2017 fiasco“, SVP Nick Peters shares his warning message for C-Suite executives.
“Schnatter should have learned both from his prior experience with the NFL and from the negative impact on Uber’s brand of former CEO Travis Kalanick’s fall,” said Nick Peters, SVP at Commcore Consulting. “In today’s media and social media environment every C-Suite executive must be careful to anticipate that anything they say may be repeated in public, often to their detriment.”
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