Last month three of Under Armour’s celebrity endorsers — Stephen Curry, Misty Copeland, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — publicly criticized the company’s CEO, Kevin Plank, for making a favorable statement about President Trump. This was an unusual PR challenge. Normally, executives worry about their endorsers behaving in ways that reflect poorly on their companies, such as getting in trouble with the law. They don’t expect to be reprimanded by the very people they’re paying to market their products.
When an Employee or Spokesperson Criticizes Your Company
Advice for navigating a contentious climate.
March 16, 2017
Summary.
In today’s highly politicized environment, some companies and their senior executives are facing public criticism from endorsers and employees over the stances they’ve taken. How should they respond? By communicating their values early and often, considering contract clauses against public disparagement, paying attention to and possibly adopting stakeholder positions, and declining to censure critics after the fact.