Sophie Difusco

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Tarte Cosmetics "Dubai Trip" Crisis

 

Case Introduction

• Tarte Cosmetics is a makeup, skincare, and beauty product brand founded by Maureen Kelly in 1999. The company is owned by Kosé Corporation, a Japanese company. Products are sold online, in department stores, at Sephora, and Ulta Beauty. 

• The marketing definition of “influencer” from Oxford Languages is “a person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media.”

Timeline

• January 18, 2023, Tarte flew 50 influencers and their plus-one guests to Dubai via Emirates business class to stay at the Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah in collaboration with Sephora Middle East. 

• January 19, 2023, Jack McGuire from Barstool Company makes a TikTok calling the trip and its cost into question.

• January 20, 2023, Maureen Kelly speaks with Glossy to clear up rumors and answer questions about the trip.

• January 21, 2023, the trip ended.

• January 24, 2023, TikTok user Isabelle Lux makes a video showing job postings from Tarte suggesting that the marketing team was fired after the trip. 

• January 25, 2023, Tarte pokes fun at the controversy with a TikTok video and Maureen Kelly denies the rumors that she fired her marketing team on her personal account. 

Threats

• Tarte faced a rumors crisis after this trip, with viewers speculating and making false claims about the details. The company also faced the challenge of responding to wide-scale disapproval of the trip. 

• Tarte was responsible for the trip as it was their own marketing and advertising event. Tarte is also responsible for clearing up controversy and rumors relating to the trip.

• Tarte has hosted similar events for product launches: Bora Bora in 2016, Costa Rica in 2018, Hawaii in 2019, and Florida in 2022, but did not face backlash like this.

• While Tarte did receive an overwhelming amount of disapproval for the trip, the company’s reputation was not highly damaged, as responses to the trip are both positive and negative. Tarte and Kelly’s TikTok responses to the controversy were both well-received. The publics, being the influencers, did not receive damage to their reputations either, as many viewers defended the influencers in attendance, saying they would have jumped at the opportunity to go to Dubai as well.

Primary Publics

• The influencers invited to the trip are the key public affected by the crisis, as well as Tarte customers and fans of the influencers who were offended by the trip being unrelatable in the current economy.

• The influencers have all been invited on brand trips before and have experienced negative responses to their content in the past, as it’s a common con of posting to social media. All the influencers invited most likely have experience using and receiving Tarte products, as a relationship between the company and the individual was probably necessary prior.

• Prior to the trip, Tarte has not been controversial. Their Maracuja Juicy Lip product went viral over the summer and has put the company in the public’s favor. None of the influencers appear to have been negatively impacted by the trip or lost any followers.

Media Response

• On Tarte’s original TikTok video promoting the event, before all the controversy began, comments called out the company for a lack of colored and older influencers. 

• TikTok users posted videos calling the trip and its cost into question, other users made videos defending Tarte saying that the company likely had partnerships that made this trip less expensive for them. 

• Comments on videos discussing the trip described it as “tone-deaf” and “unrelatable” during a cost-of-living crisis where many viewers can barely afford food and rent, much less a trip to Dubai. 

• The hashtag #TrippinWithTarte has 168.3 million views and #TarteDubaiTrip has 27.4 million views.

• Users called out influencers, specifically Meredith Duxbury, saying they were not even using Tarte products in their “get ready with me” videos while on the sponsored trip.

Organization Response

• Tarte’s CEO Maureen Kelly responded to the original controversy against the location and expansiveness of the trip by being understanding of critics’ point of view: “This isn’t our first trip, but I can, of course, understand how people may have a knee-jerk reaction to seeing content overload like this.”

• Tarte’s crisis response strategy was to diminish the issue by excusing and justifying the trip. First Maureen Kelly compared the trip to other brands’ marketing: “Every day, brands make decisions about how to spend their marketing budgets. For some companies, that means a huge Super Bowl commercial or a multi-million-dollar contract with a famous athlete or celebrity. We’ve never done traditional advertising, and instead, we invest in building relationships and building up communities.”

• Kelly also defended the location choice, pointing out that the trip was in partnership with Sephora Middle East because the Middle East is one of Tarte’s fastest-growing markets. Tarte also made donations to Middle East-based charities that build women up around the world, as women empowerment was the theme of the entire trip. 

• Tarte excused the controversy with a humorous video that poked fun at itself to send the message that the company acknowledged the issue but did not see itself in the wrong. Kelly used humor to deny the accusations that the marketing team had been fired too.

Evaluation

• The influencers invited on the trip had highly positive responses to it, boasting about Tarte as a company. Customers and followers had mixed responses, some loving the trip, and some scrutinizing it. Some were in the middle, saying they didn’t mind the trip but would not be seeking out Tarte products because of the content it produced.

• At the end of the day, the crisis did not destroy Tarte’s reputation, and increased the company’s popularity, for better and for worse, as the public had mixed opinions.

• Tarte should learn to increase their range of influencers of color and older age to be more wholistically representative of their customers. They also should try to do trips that are more relatable to their customers, based on their more affordable pricing.

• Tarte communicated effectively and ethically, defending itself where necessary and not dragging the issue out. I would not have responded any further to the controversy either.

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The Academy "The Slap" Crisis

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Case Introduction

• The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit, professional organization founded on May 11, 1927, in Los Angeles, California with the purpose of celebrating all parts of the film industry wholistically. Membership is made up of over 10,000 film industry artists and leaders globally.

• The Academy Awards, nicknamed The Oscars, are among the highest honors in filmmaking, granted at a glamorous ceremony to the nominated winners of 23 categories.

• Will Smith is an actor, comedian, producer, rapper, and songwriter. He gained his fame originally as the rapper “The Fresh Prince”, and his popularity skyrocketed when he starred in the television series “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

Timeline

• In 2018, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Will Smith’s wife, publicly discussed her emerging struggle with alopecia.

• March 27, 2022, the 94th Academy Awards ceremony takes place.

  • Jada Pinkett-Smith is present, with a shaved head due to her continued struggle with alopecia.

  • Chris Rock takes the stage to present the award for Best Documentary. He makes a joke referencing Jada’s shaved head.

  • Following the joke, Will Smith takes the stage and slaps Chris Rock. He returns to his seat immediately, shouting “Keep my wife’s name out of your f***ing mouth” from the audience.

  • Will Smith returns to the stage to collect his award for Best Actor in “King Richard”. He apologizes to The Academy and to his fellow nominees.

• March 28, 2022, Will Smith publicly apologizes to Chris Rock, the Academy, all attendees and viewers, and to the Williams Family.

  • Richard Williams criticizes the slap in a statement to NBC News.

• March 30, 2022, The Academy promises to take appropriate action against Will Smith.

• April 1, 2022, Will Smith resigns from The Academy for betraying their trust.

• April 8, 2022, The Academy bans Will Smith from attending any Academy events for the next 10 years, but he may still be nominated for and win awards.

Threats

• Crisis types: Challenge and organizational misdeeds

  • Will Smith’s actions against Chris Rock posed a challenge for The Academy

  • The Academy did not force Will Smith to leave the ceremony or aid Chris Rock in the moment. The lack of action put audience and Academy members at risk.

• Crisis responsibility: The Academy was not responsible for Will Smith’s actions, but it is responsible for properly responding to correct his actions that occurred at their event.

• Crisis history: The Academy has not experienced an incident like this in the past, and therefore did not have any pre-existing protocol measures to follow.

• The incident did not prevent the ceremony from proceeding, nor did it prevent The Academy from holding the event again in 2023. Will Smith still accepted his Oscar. 

• Chris Rock has made jokes about Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith before, saying they “went mad” for protesting the Oscars in 2016, and suggesting Jada was not invited.

Primary Publics

• Key Publics: Attendees and viewers of The Academy Awards, members of The Academy, Chris Rock and Will Smith along with their fans and families, social media users who learned of the event from relevant posts and hashtags

• Will Smith has been a member of The Academy since 2001. Chris Rock hosted the Academy Awards in 2005 and 2016.

• Pre-slap, Will Smith has had a rocky relationship with the Academy Awards, boycotting the event in 2016 during the #OscarsSoWhite campaign that called out the organization for nominating only white actors.

• Regarding the crisis, Will Smith is banned from the Academy Awards for the next 10 years and has resigned from the organization. Smith accepts and respects the organization’s decision regarding his actions. Chris Rock claimed that he was asked to host the Oscars this year and refused, but the Academy did not confirm this.

• Will Smith and Chris Rock have not fixed rekindled their relationship since the event.

Media Response

• Social media discussion about the incident on Twitter and TikTok specifically increased awareness about the incident with posts commenting on and mocking the event. Anyone who did not watch the Oscars became instantly aware of the slap via social media.

• Will Smith used Instagram to administer his apology to Chris Rock and the Academy.

• Twitter users questioned whether The Academy asked Smith to slap Rock to increase television views, as Will and Jada were seated directly in front of the stage.

Organization’s Response

• The Academy’s crisis response was to repair the incident by apologizing and administering corrective action, with a hint of justification.

• The Academy’s full statement on the incident apologizes for not adequately addressing the situation in the room as it occurred. The organization admits that they had the opportunity to set an example for what cannot occur at their event and failed to do so.

• The statement explains the corrective action following the incident: accepting Will Smith’s resignation from The Academy and banning him from their events for the next 10 years. They also express gratitude to Chris Rock for remaining composed.

• The Academy does acknowledge that they are taking steps to improve the organization following the incident but also justifies their lack of action in the moment with the fact that Will Smith’s behavior was unprecedented, so the organization was unprepared.

• The Academy released a tactical statement on Twitter about not condoning violence along with their official statement created by its Board of Governors.

Evaluation

• Will Smith responded publicly on social media with apologies, Chris Rock responded through jokes at his comedy shows following the incident, and members of The Academy responded on Twitter urging the organization to take corrective action.

• The crisis forced the organization to take corrective action against Will Smith. The Academy learned that in violence, immediate action is necessary to eliminate danger.

• The crisis was communicated effectively, with an official statement of Smith’s ban and resignation released 12 days after the incident. It would have been more ethical to remove Smith from the event immediately, rather than allowing him to receive his award and give his speech. I would have removed Smith and released the statement more urgently.

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NOTE: The entire Casebook is 18 pages long. Only the first two cases covered are included above. The original casebook also features an Appendix after each case with references to articles, quotes, images, and social media posts, which I have omitted for aesthetic purposes.