Rising National Sentiments: The Failed PR Crisis Handling of BMW mini

How can multinational corporations survive in a country? This is a question I’ve been pondering recently. The recent uproar over TikTok facing shutdown in the United States proves the challenges foreign enterprises face. Now, in China, with the development of productivity, people are no longer blindly pursuing “imported goods” or “foreign brands,” but gradually shifting towards supporting “domestic brands” and “Chinese products.” This marks the rise of national consciousness.

The case I’m going to share today is about crisis public relations related to “national sentiment”.

On April 20, 2023, BMW Mini distributed ice cream at their booth. After refusing ice cream to a Chinese woman, citing “no more left”, they astonishingly handed one to a foreign man just 2 seconds later. A Bilibili user documented the entire incident. BMW’s Mini apologizes after meltdown over ice cream at Shanghai auto show. At 14:12 on the 20th, @mini China issued a statement, admitting “staff negligence” and offering sincere apologies! At 9:00 on April 21st, @mini China issued a second statement, claiming that the foreigners were employees, and the ice cream was reserved for them. Asking for more tolerance towards the two hostesses actually enraged the public. On the 22nd, several individuals were livestreaming in front of Mini’s exhibition booth and were escorted away by security guards.

From my perspective, this is a very unsuccessful way of handling this social media crisis.

The truth, sincerity, and genuine action

The previous day, this “foreign car brand” stated, “BMW’s home is in China,” yet the next day, they were seen “pleasing foreigners” at the Chinese auto show, which is a very serious issue regarding national sentiment.

Although no matter how the brand responds, they will be criticized, a “qualified” statement should adhere to the “three truths” principle: truth, sincerity, and genuine action. However, both responses from BMW Mini perfectly went against this.

Firstly, truthfulness. BMW issued two statements, with the second one mentioning that the foreigners were employees, not regular consumers. At exhibitions, especially with big brands like BMW, the organizers have clear regulations for on-site staff. All staff are strictly prohibited from touching gifts, refreshments, or seeking celebrity photos unless there is a surplus at the end of the event.

Secondly, genuine action — this is what the two apology letters lacked the most: action. Following up by distributing more ice cream at the Shanghai auto show, with those same employees, enthusiastically offering ice cream to all Chinese attendees would have been a genuine action. Taking some photos with them would also count as an action, rather than just verbally saying that we will humbly correct our mistakes.

It’s the wrong time to show care for employees.

Indeed, there are two employees facing online bullying.

Therefore, BMW Mini’s public call for “tolerance” towards these two young girls isn’t wrong in direction, but it’s wrong in execution. Firstly, they shouldn’t have used rhetorical questions (“Can’t we all give them a little more tolerance?”). They could have directly appealed for understanding. Secondly, BMW shouldn’t have made the appeal themselves; instead, they should have used a third-party media outlet.

BMW Mini’s plea for “everyone to give them more tolerance and space” aimed to convey care and protection towards these two employees affected. However, “corporate social media is not the media”, and the company is facing negative public opinion. “You’re not doing things right yourself, yet you’re pretending to be righteous, which makes the public even less forgiving” — this is the sentiment among the masses.

In summary, this incident has draped BMW with the cloak of discriminating against Chinese people, causing a sharp decline in people’s favorability towards the brand. In today’s climate where racial discrimination is receiving widespread attention, shouldn’t we also pay attention to the rise of national sentiment? If foreign brands continue to act superior and fail to genuinely respect consumers in the host country, then such brands will surely not go far.