A Guide to Building an Effective Corporate Apology

Introduction and Mission

Mistakes are unavoidable. Companies’ actions following these mistakes occur,

however, show the public the remorse they have towards the incident, as well as the
care they have for their customers. Your company needs to be prepared for potential
mistakes. Looking at successful apologies from the past will help you develop a “game
plan” for the chance that you may find yourself in an unwanted situation. The following
report provides examples of well-publicized scenarios in which companies needed to
apologize for a wrongdoing. Each section is titled with the main idea, or the main lesson
that you can learn from that scenario. Use this as a reference for writing a successful
corporate apology.
Case 1: Take Responsibility

Kate Kiefer Lee dissects a tweet sent by KitchenAid that reads, “Obamas gma even
knew it was going 2 b bad! She died 3 days b4 he became president.” This tweet refers
to the presidential debate, and attacks Obama personally. An employee of KitchenAid
published it in 2012, which is interesting; it occurred six years ago, but scandals were
being initiated on Twitter even at that time. Social media often catalyzes incidences that
require an apology. In this case, an employee of KitchenAid posted a Tweet from the
company’s Twitter, while thinking they were posting from a personal account. The whole
company suffers because of this. “Head of KitchenAid Cynthia Soledad took
responsibility for the tweet that someone from her team posted,” and tweeted a direct
apology to Barack Obama (Lee, 2012). She emphasized in her own tweet that the
offensive tweet was irresponsible and was “in no way a representation of the brand’s
opinion.” Soledad quickly and effectively took responsibility for the tweet done by one of
her employees. However, it shows the potential danger in having multiple people handle
a Twitter account. Lee recommends companies be “overprotective of our brands’
voices,” because the more hands that have access to a company’s Twitter the more
likely there is to be a mistake (Lee, 2012).
Case 2: Be Straightforward

Lee also praises Tim Cook for his apology from Apple. This was not initiated from a
scandal, but rather from a poor product. Cook addressed his customers to apologize for
the issues they were experiencing with Apple Maps. A new update had come out, and
people were having trouble using the app. What makes this apology effective, according
to Lee, was the specific “we’re sorry.” A straightforward yet personal tone helps an
apology. However, Cook failed to provide an explanation of why the process to release
this version of iOS. In addition, the tone became less personal as the apology
continues. Lee writes, “the mention of ‘more than 100 million iOS devices using the new
Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day’…make the letter seem like
standard near-crisis management” (Lee, 2012). After the initial apology, the “I’m sorry”
aspect is not brought back. The rest of the letter reads more like a commercial or a
defensive apology.
Case 3: Be Concise

Juxtaposing KitchenAid’s apology with Apple’s apology reveals that many times, shorter
is better. However, it is possible to successfully release a long apology, as long as it
contains the appropriate tone. The last apologize Lee analyzes came from Airbnb after
a guest vandalized a host’s home. Similar to other effective apologies, they take
responsibility and directly apologize. Specific to this apology, however, they offer a
solution. They offer a $50,000 guarantee to hosts to protect their property. Lee realizes
this presents a large liability for the company, but she believes it is worth it to regain the
trust of customers (Lee, 2012).

Airbnb’s apology is also successful due to tone. They used phrasing such as, “our
hearts sank,” “we felt paralyzed,” and “we have disappointed the community.” Tone is
an important aspect of writing in general (Glaser, 2016), but especially in corporate
apologies. A study done at UC Berkeley compared the facial expressions on executive’s
faces during an apology video with the amount that the company’s stock changed after
the video. They found smiling in apology videos is associated with lower stock prices
following the apology (Carmichael, 2015).
Case 4: Don’t deflect Blame

A more recent apology came from Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. The successful CEO
came under fire after the company harvested user data and sold it to a third party,
Cambridge Analytica (Wiener-Bronner, 2018). Customers felt their trust in the social
media platform was violated, and demanded an explanation. Zuckerberg announced an
apology, as well as explained the situation in a Congressional hearing. However, many
people were not satisfied with his apology. Again, the tone was not appropriate, as
many observers compared Zuckerberg to the very technology he markets. A lesson
your company can utilize that is unique to this situation, however, is the way the apology
followed the “I’m sorry this happened” outline. This is a way to apologize without fully
accepting blame. It acts as if the incident was unavoidable, or an outside force caused it
to happen, rather than being a direct effect of decisions made by the company. Honesty
and specifics about the source of the problem “cheers up investors…[and] helps the
company turn around the issues more quickly.” Companies who blamed external
factors, such as “economic forces” are “seen as less honest” (Carmichael, 2015). A
respectable apology accepts direct blame.
Case 5: Offer a Solution

United Airlines also made a mistake. However, they offered a solution they believed
would amend the issue. If you are ever in a situation that prompts you to apologize,
remember to propose a potential solution, and show the public the steps you are taking
towards this outcome. This strategy quells the public’s concern that the mistake will
repeat itself, and it shows that the company takes the issue seriously. The company
cares about fixing the issue to the extent that they are willing to change their policies
and regulations (Munoz, 2017). United Airlines forcibly and aggressively removed a
passenger from an overbooked flight. The passenger was dragged on his back off the
plane, and fellow passengers took a video of the incident. People were horrified as the
videos went viral (Thompson, 2017). However, promising to “take full responsibility
and…work to make it right” by amending policies and how the company handles
“oversold situations” (Munoz, 2017) is an effective approach to an apology.
Summary of Tips

1. Be sincere.
2. Don’t deflect blame; effective apologies involve the CEO or executive owning
responsibility.
3. Be brief, but long enough to show the company cares.
4. Maintain a caring, sympathetic tone; make it clear that you’re not taking the
incident lightly.
5. Propose a solution.
 References
Carmichael, S. G., & Harvard Business Review. (2018, March 12). Research: For a
Corporate Apology to Work, the CEO Should Look Sad. Retrieved May 9, 2018,
from https://hbr.org/2015/08/research-for-a-corporate-apology-to-work-the-ceo-
should-look-sad
Glaser, J. (2016). Understanding style: Practical ways to improve your writing. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Lee, K. K. (2012, October 04). The Art Of The Corporate Apology. Retrieved May 9,
2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/katelee/2012/10/04/the-art-of-the-
corporate-apology/#659219c54a9e
This is interesting because it was published in 2012. It refers to the
presidential debate, and a tweet that was personally offensive to Obama.
Munoz, O. (2017, May 11). Statement from United Airlines CEO, Oscar Munoz, on
United Express flight 3411. Retrieved from https://hub.united.com/united-
express-3411-statement-oscar-munoz-2355968629.html
Thompson, D. (2017, April 10). The Deeper Scandal of That Brutal United Video.
Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/united-
video-scandal-law/522552/
Wiener-Bronner, D. (2018, March 21). Mark Zuckerberg apology: 'I'm really sorry that
this happened'. Retrieved from
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/21/technology/mark-zuckerberg-
apology/index.html