Lesley Born in Digital

People found that the new brand endorsor was Grace Chen, a popular but relatively controversial social influencer and model. Grace Chen had almost 1,000,000 followers on her Facebook page and most of them were female. 

Grace Chen was mainly notorious for not being transparent. She didn't indicate the commercial/paid posts. She claimed that she goes to gym a lot but she in fact also did liposuction in order to keep in good body shape.

After people online found Grace Chen was the new brand endorser, over 3,000 people left their commands below and said that they would institute a boycott of Mode Marie's products because Mode Marie hired Grace Chen.

Mode Marie didn't manage this social crisis until 4 days later, February 28th. They posted an announcement for apology. Within the apology, they mentioned that

"We are sorry for disappointing our supporters because our new brand endorser didn't has the perfect body shape and has a negative public reputation. We will do self-criticism and make a better choice about brand endorser in the future." 

Mode Marie's reaction was considered to be lacking capability of crisis management. Overall, Mode Marie made three huge mistakes when they were dealing with this crisis: replying too slow, picking the wrong brand endorser because of myopia, and not showing support to their brand endorser.

1. Replying too slow
As I mentioned before, Mode Marie's didn't post any announcement either reply any comments until four days later. I can understand that they probably need to have a meeting before they come up with solution. However, crisis management is all about quick response. The longer you wait, the greater damage would cause. If the PR team were quick enough, the crisis could even be under control within four days.

2.Picking the wrong brand endorser because of myopia
I think the reason why Mode Maire chose Grace Chen as new brand endorser was that she had huge followers on social media and the expected conversion rate probably was higher than regular TV actresses or celebrities, which they usually hired in the past. However, without carefully considering people's preference, Mode Maire made mistake.

3.Not showing support to their brand endorser
Even if Mode Marie made a mistake on choosing brand endorser, I think they shouldn't get rid of Grace Chen right in public. By hiring Grace Chen, Mode Marie already irritated a group of people who dislike her. By firing Grace Chen, they irritated another group of people who are loyal followers of Grace Chen. At the end of day, Made Marie created a lose-lose situation.

Mode Marie also put themselves into a situation that they will probably hard to find good brand endorser in the future. Instead of showing kind and support to Grace Chen, Mode Marie chose to criticize her in their announcement. If someone who is considered to be the new candidate of Mode Marie's new brand endorser, the person will probably give up this opportunity when she knows that Mode Marie means to their brand endorser when there's a scandal.

Social media is a double-edged sword. 
Marketing people love but hate social media. However, when crisis happened, it doesn't necessarily be a bad thing. Negativity can be a key turning point and bring a brand to next level as long as you manage it appropriately. These three takeaways from Mode Marie's example can be a good lesson for all marketers. Next time when crisis happens, at least don't make these three mistakes.

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