

For context, Casey is black.Ĭasey’s mother Rene (a successful blogger) shared the experience on her Facebook page. According to Casey, as soon as she walked through the doorway a saleswoman looked up and allegedly said “Shoplifter” to one of her colleagues. What happened: It all started when a teenage girl named Casey Syler decided to visit a fashion store in South Carolina to shop for a new wallet. How not to handle a social media crisis: Carolina Girls NB: This article was originally published in 2013, but has been updated to include examples from 2017 and the very recent past.

In most cases the mistake was completely avoidable, and indeed would have been with a little more care and attention. Here we present a number of examples where brands have shot themselves in the foot. It is not uncommon for a large company to have to deal with a social media crisis and some handle them better than others.
