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What do the Cinnamon Toast Crunch shrimp tails man, blowback over Dr. Oz guest hosting Jeopardy, and a little Chicago hometown vaccination scandal have in common?

You guessed it! Some good ol’ crisis communications.

But this isn’t your grandfather’s crisis communications. This is the new age of crisis communications that requires one to consider cancel culture, social media terrorists and trolls alike, and how the organization’s values match—or don’t—that of your employees and customers.

What a week for brands having to deal with some good old-fashioned crises. Most of you have probably heard about the Cinnamon Toast Crunch saga and people flipping out over Dr. Oz hosting Jeopardy.

But in Chicago, we have a little crisis of our own, where the CEO and COO of one of the hospitals here gave out vaccines to their friends, including one Eric Trump, and friends and upper management at their favorite restaurant. Turns out, you’re not supposed to do that—and they’ve now lost their jobs over it.

(I’m joking—EVERYONE knows you’re not supposed to do that.)

But what is one to do when you’re caught in the crosshairs of a crisis that has nothing to do with you? What do you do when everyone wants to boycott you? How do you handle it all?

That, my friends, is what we discuss on this week’s episode of the Spin Sucks podcast. I’ll give you the lowdown on each and then we’ll talk about what’s gone right—and what has gone up in flames. 

Resources Included

• Shrimp Tails Images on Twitter
• Dr. Oz Controversial Comments
• Criticism of Dr. Oz on Social Media
• Online Petition to Remove Dr. Oz
• Crisis vs. an Issue
• Spin Sucks Community

About Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is the lead blogger at Spin Sucks and is the founder of Spin Sucks Pro. She is the co-author of Marketing in the Round and co-host of Inside PR. Full bio