The Burning Phone & Locker Room Talk
Oculus says by all means keep it away from your face. Airlines prohibit you to even hold one. On a recent flight, I overheard a flight attendant pleading with a passenger to remove the battery and put it in a separate pocket of his carry on. One man has skin grafts because of a fire burning in his front pocket. Another man in Florida had a phone burn through his pants. A little girl reported a tingling sensation when she held the phone. A bedroom burned.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7.
In a recorded Samsung video from September 16, “…the battery is safe, the issue has been resolved.” As it turns out, it was not safe and the issue was far from resolved.
In other news, Donald Trump’s 2005 recording hijacked the first 30 minutes of the second presidential debate. From Friday until Sunday, it’s safe to say his recording dominated the news. I mean, all of the news. But this isn’t the first thing out of Trump’s mouth that has grabbed the media’s attention. For the last year plus, Trump has “earned” more media attention than any other candidate, perhaps ever. He brags about not spending on advertising. He opines his love of Twitter.
I’d be willing to guess that Samsung is certainly grateful for Donald Trump.
Why? Because in any other news cycle, reports of the burning phone and multiple botched recalls would be dominating the news. Instead, we have Billy Bush (wait, what?) and the Republican candidate and their “locker room talk” on a bus.
By accounts from industry watchdogs, techies and analysts alike, Samsung has had a head in the sand approach, and didn’t take claims of problems with the phone (after their first recall) seriously.
With crisis communications, a brand — or an individual — needs to respond quickly, decisively, authentically — and factually.
Wall Street reports that Samsung’s shares are down today, but not by much. What will be the long-term blow to the company’s credibility and trust in its brand going forward? For me at least, here’s one story. A friend recently handed me their phone to speak to another friend of ours. I immediately noticed it was heavier, and not my iPhone. I saw it was a Samsung. I almost flung it across the room. She said, don’t worry: “it’s not one of the ones that catch fire.” Besides, it would take a lot for me to part with the reliability, features and design of my iPhone.
Back to the election, Hillary Clinton seems to be edging ahead but many polls and pundits suggest that videogate and it’s locker room talk certainly didn’t end Trump’s campaign for the White House.
Sure, everybody makes mistakes. But when there’s a series of them and the issue doesn’t seem to get resolved, then brand credibility should be called into question. While it took Samsung some time to come out publicly, Trump on the other hand, responded the same day with a recorded statement. He said he was sorry too, just like Samsung. (footnote: I’d be willing to bet we see some more “sorry videos” from the candidate and the mobile phone maker before the end of the month.)
Whether or not an apology is credible is an entirely different issue. Trump’s words certainly fall within a greater context of sexist and misogynist statements over the years, making him a lot harder to believe.
But at least Samsung didn’t blame Bill Clinton. So there’s that.
