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WRD 202

professional writing

Mike
Lazaridis, the
founder and
co-CEO of
Research In
Motion, took
to YouTube
yesterday to
apologize for
the
BlackBerry
service
outages that
plagued his
customers

this week. In doing so, he joined many other corporate chiefs who have chosen to eat their hat
on Google’s video-sharing service, staring into their webcams (or professional video
equipment) for an effect that’s somewhere between intimate and “David After Dentist.” Below,
we’ve collected 10 such examples of executive YouTube apologia, which is clearly an emerging
art form.

Research In Motion
Lazaridis, sporting a BlackBerry polo shirt and standing in front of a neutral backdrop, offered
a straightforward explanation of the BlackBerry outage without offering a timeline for when
service woud be fully restored. Time to the word “apologize”: 18 seconds.

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https://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/10/14/how-to-say-youre-sorry-10-ceo-youtube-apologies/

DEAL JOURNAL

How to Say You’re Sorry: 10 CEO YouTube
Apologies

Oct 14, 2011 9�40 am ET

By Zachary M. Seward

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=zQ1esvGae_s

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204002304576628003438184440.html

https://blogs.wsj.com/deals

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Netflix
Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, took his YouTube video to the great outdoors last month and
brought along COO Andy Rendich. Hastings said he was sorry for poorly communicating recent
Netflix price increases, then surprised everyone by announcing that he intended to spin off his
DVD business into a separate company called Qwikster. (There was no YouTube video when
Hastings abandoned that plan this week.) Time to the word “apologize”: 17 seconds.

Groupon
“Konichiwa,” began Groupon CEO Andrew Mason’s apology in January after the company faced
a backlash in Japan over a botched New Year’s deal. He delivered the rest of the mea culpa in
English with Japanese subtitles. Time to the word “sorry”: 34 seconds.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903374004576581030108271302.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203499704576622674082410578.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/17/groupon-ceo-apologizes-to_n_809894.html

https://www.wsj.com/newsletters?sub=230&mod=wsj_eng_20elct_cb

JetBlue
David Neeleman, former CEO of JetBlue, was an early adopter of the YouTube confessional,
turning to the form in 2007, when a breakdown of the airline’s operations stranded more than
130,000 passengers. Clearly working without a script, Neeleman outlined new policies at
JetBlue but never explicitly apologized in the video. He lost his job a few months later.

Domino’s Pizza

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aWMyjHAcF4h4&refer=home

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In 2009, two Domino’s employees posted a video that — well, let’s not relive the incident, but it
wasn’t anything you would want on your pizza. Patrick Doyle, then president of Domino’s USA,
was dead serious in his YouTube apology: “Two team members have been dismissed, and there
are felony warrants out for their arrest.” Time to the word “apologize”: 14 seconds.

Skype
Skype CEO Tony Bates was low-key and appropriately low-tech when his Internet calling
service suffered a worldwide outage last year. “I know this has been a very tough 24 hours for
many of our users,” Bates said, striking an empathetic note. He also promised credits for paying
customers. Time to the word “apologize”: 13 seconds.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/22/skype-outage-millions-affected-worldwide/

https://www.wsj.com/newsletters?sub=230&mod=wsj_eng_20elct_cb

Eurostar
The high-speed railway that connects London and Paris was felled by snow in December 2009,
leaving some passengers stranded between the two cities. Richard Brown, then CEO of
Eurostar, didn’t exactly find a flattering light source, leading one YouTube commenter to
observe, “He looks like a kidnap victim.” But his apology was rapid, unequivocal and didn’t
slack on reparations for affected customers. Time to the word “sorry”: 5 seconds.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/22/eurostar-services-resume-snow-travel

http://www.youtube.com/comment?lc=I4HO6tfyhwtVPT5Y3QzZd6plgKgnlw4DI6d2TC2qHD0

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How could this list not include BP? The company apologized in various forms after last year’s
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the least equivocal mea culpa may have been then-CEO Tony
Hayward’s 60-second TV spot that BP also posted to YouTube. Standing on the Gulf shoreline
with a soundtrack of seagulls and b-roll of the spill, Hayward detailed BP’s cleanup efforts and
said taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay. (He didn’t repeat his infamous line, “I’d like my life back.”)
Hayward resigned later that summer. Time to the word “sorry”: 38 seconds.

Sony
Sony executives famously bowed at a press conference to apologize for a prolonged outage of
PlayStation services and a breach of customer data. Kazuo Hirai, Sony’s president of consumer
products, also took to YouTube from his minimalist office. His apologia is notable for the chill-
out music playing in the background. Time to the word “apologies”: 19 seconds.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/01/bp-ceo-tony-hayward-video_n_595906.html

Sony executive Kaz Hirai apologizes for PlayStation Network outage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chill-out_music

https://www.wsj.com/newsletters?sub=230&mod=wsj_eng_20elct_cb

Toyota
When Toyota faced massive safety recalls last year, most of the apologizing was done at press
conferences in Japan. But the heads of Toyota’s international operations sometimes chose
YouTube as their forum, including Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., and Jon
Williams, commercial director of Toyota Great Britain. Lentz went for compassion while
Williams preferred an extraordinarily detailed explanation of the problem. Time to the word
“apologize” or “sorry”: 20 seconds (Lentz) and 4 minutes, 7 seconds (Williams).

Share this: http://on.wsj.com/15uRqua

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Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018 l Technical Communication 9

Applied Research

• The emergence of Twitter has
opened many opportunities for
businesses to raise their public
profiles.

• An unfortunate by-product of social
media platforms is the possibility for
their misuse, resulting in a public
relations disaster.

• There is an emerging rhetorical
genre of Twitter apologies wherein
a corporate authority must

make amends for the company’s
unfortunate tweet.

• The Twitter apology has the
potential to either undo the damage
of the initial tweet or repair the
damage, and improve the company’s
standing in the public view so long
as the social media representative
utilizes the strategies of Recognition,
Responsibility, Remorse, Restitution,
and Repetition.

Practitioner’s
Takeaway:

Purpose: In the emerging world of social media, social media platforms have offered
a number of marketing opportunities but also a number of potential problems. This
has led to a number of social media foibles that can create a public relations nightmare
for the affected companies. This article will explore the emerging phenomenon of
the corporate Twitter apology and the rhetorical constructs that are required for an
effective apology.
Method: Using the strategies of Ruth Page and John Kador, I have analyzed successful
and unsuccessful Twitter apologies. The success of these apologies is determined by the
public response from the tertiary audiences comprised of Twitter followers.
Results: This study determined that successful Twitter apologies use a combination of
Kador’s strategies (Recognition, Responsibility, Remorse, Restitution, and Repetition),
originally implemented for analog apologies, adapted for electronic communications to
make a successful social media apology.
Conclusion: Surviving any serious social media foible depends upon issuing a successful
apology and doing so on the social media platform where the original offense took
place. Social media mistakes, though unique in their scope and potential to reach an
ever-expanding tertiary audience, can be managed using the same strategies that apply
to analog apologies.

Abstract

A One-Hundred Forty Character Discourse:
The Twitter Apology as an Emerging
Sub-Genre of Corporate Communication
Allen Berry

10 Technical Communication l Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018

Applied Research

Corporate Twitter Apologies

The universal presence of social media has created a
number of new and interesting rhetorical situations,
in both the realm of social strata and in the corporate
world. Customers no longer need send a strongly
worded letter to the physical offices of an offending
corporation and wait an indeterminate amount of
time for a reply. In the high-speed environment of
social media, customers can now voice their concerns
immediately via the company’s Twitter feed.

Conversely, this new media has also become a
forum for quick, concise communication between
corporations and consumers. This instant access medium
where messages can be transmitted instantly, often
without regulation, has been beneficial to companies.
Businesses’ Twitter presence, as innovators in touch
with both consumers and cutting-edge technology,
can boost a company’s image. However, Twitter has
additionally spawned an unintended consequence
as a public relations hazard. This is due to the size of
the tertiary audience of social media, which consists
of the audience members that the tweets were never
intended for. The tertiary audience pitfall has become
seemingly unavoidable in the expanding world of social
media. As a result, a strategy has begun to emerge for
managing the conflicts that inevitably come as a result
of misusing social media. This article will explore the
phenomenon of the social media apology and how to
properly navigate the potential public image disaster that
can come as a result of a controversial tweet. Utilizing
established strategies for corporate apologies and a
sampling of controversial Twitter incidents, I will address
best practices for managing the fallout from social
media incidents. Particular emphasis will be placed on
John Kador’s “Five R’s” strategy for effective apologies;
recognition, responsibility, remorse, restitution, and
repetition; as applied to social media incidents.

Marwick and Boyd, in their 2011 study of social
media behavior, suggest that Twitter differs from email
in that email is directed to a specific audience. Twitter
differs in that a tweet reaches a broad audience. The
authors suggest that

[Twittter] users write different tweets to target
different people (e.g. audiences). This approach
acknowledges multiplicity, but rather than creating
entirely separate, discrete audiences through a single
account, conscious of potential overlap among
their audiences. However, the difference between

Twitter and email is that the latter is primarily a
directed technology with people pushing content to
the persons listed in the ‘To’ field, while tweets are
made available for interested individuals to pull on
demand. (p. 120)

They go on to suggest that the ideal reader, as
imagined by most writers, still exists in the social media
realm, and that Twitter users write their tweets with these
readers in mind. This imagined audience of presumably
like-minded individuals is a particularly perilous one for
a corporation, considering the wide audience of Twitter
followers (see the Digiorno Pizza incident).

Given the relatively personal nature of social media,
a Twitter account can represent the personal views and
opinions of the user, and this is typically the case for
individual accounts utilized by a single user. In this
respect, the Twitter user is the gatekeeper of the content
that he or she views or interacts with. Most social media
platforms offer controls over what information is shared
with others. Filters and user controls allow the social
media user to decide who can read and post to their
social media accounts. This factors in to the performance
aspect of social media, where the user’s image is
presented in various degrees of authenticity to the world
at large. In essence, the Twitter account represents the
person who uses the account. Marwick and Boyd (2011)
suggest that this creates a measure of tension that

usually errs on the side of concealing on Twitter,
but even users who do not post anything scandalous
must formulate tweets and choose discussion
topics based on imagined audience judgment.
This consciousness implies an ongoing frontstage
performance that balances the desire to maintain
positive impressions with the need to seem true or
authentic to others. (p. 124)

They further discuss the fact that Twitter users self-
censor in order to avoid conflict while simultaneously
posting personal information in their tweets designed
for a particular audience. They point out that users
constantly change their presentations based on their
audiences and that “context collapse problematizes the
individual’s ability to shift between these selves and
come off as authentic or fake” (Marwick & Boyd, 2011,
p. 124). In the context of the corporate Twitter account,
the problem of concealing and revealing is even more

Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018 l Technical Communication 11

Allen Berry

Applied Research

complex. There is no physical presence or personality
associated with the corporate account; at the same time,
the account must be maintained by a human being.
The difficulty occurs when this maintainer’s personal
interests and perspectives differ from the company’s.
On occasion, human users will accidentally tweet
something that is contrary to the company’s views or, in
some cases, purposely tweet a personal perspective that
goes against company standards.

Consider the following disastrous examples of poor
usage of social media. In 2016, the Twitter account of
the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC)
issued a particularly unfortunate tweet regarding
Senate Candidate Tammy Duckworth. The NRSC
issued a tweet stating “Tammy Duckworth has a sad
history of not standing up for our veterans. #ILSen bit.
ly/24OLQTF” (Enterpreneur.com). What might appear
on the surface to be the typical rhetoric of a contentious
political season is grossly inappropriate in light of the
fact that (now Senator) Duckworth lost both legs while
serving in Iraq. Furthermore, she served as an assistant
secretary for the Veteran’s Administration upon her
return home.

Figure 1. Ill-informed tweet attacking double amputee Iraq
War Vet Tammy Duckworth for “not standing up for our
veterans.”

Occasionally, the Twitter foible can be an ill-
conceived marketing strategy, like the recent Twitter
ad by the team at The International House of Pancakes
(IHOP). IHOP’s Twitter feed is typically filled with
visual humor and pop culture references presumably
crafted to get quick laughs while advertising their
products. A November 2015 Red Velvet Pancakes
Photo tweet sported the caption “What is this?
Velvet?” referring to a line from Eddie Murphy’s film
“Coming to America.” The strategy is typically effective;
however, it backfired in March of that same year.
IHOP tweeted a pair of photographs of their pancakes
with accompanying captions, using some decidedly
insensitive slang referring to women. The first read “The
butterface we all know and love.” The term “butter face”
denotes a woman with a particularly appealing figure
but a less appealing face. A second caption read, “flat
but has a GREAT personality” (@IHOP). This caption
is something of a double entendre, referring to the size
of a woman’s breasts. These tweets quickly raised the ire
of IHOP’s Twitter followers and others.

Figure 2. IHOP’s misogynistic tweets. The caption refers to
the slang term “Butterface,” which suggests a woman’s
attractive physique but unattractive body, and the other sug-
gesting a woman with a flat chest but a great personality.

The case of Justine Sacco, former Public Relations
Director of InterActiveCorp, the parent company of
Match.com and LinkedIn.com among others, provides
a strong cautionary tale on the reach and potential
hazards of social media. Prior to departing on a trip
to Africa, Sacco issued the following ill-conceived

12 Technical Communication l Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018

Applied Research
Corporate Twitter Apologies

tweet: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just
kidding. I’m white!” (as cited in Dimitrova, 2013,
para. 2). Unknown to Sacco, who was in transit and
without Internet access, the reaction to her post was
immediate. According to an ABC News report, “A
trending hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet and a parody
account @LOLJustineSacco quickly appeared on
Twitter. A fake Facebook account under her name was
also created, where a post links to www.justinesacco.
com, which brings up a donation page for Aid for
Africa” (Dimitrova, 2013, para. 6). The company issued
a statement distancing itself from Sacco, who was
fired the day after her initial post. The offensive tweet
was costly for Sacco but a potential public relations
disaster for the companies that she represented. Another
example of a Twitter disaster is that of the Chrysler
employee who inadvertently tweeted from the corporate
account, “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the
#motorcity and yet no one here knows how to fucking
drive” (Altman, 2012). The Twittersphere, despite being
an asset to corporate marketing and public relations,
carries the constant risk of a potential disaster. The
broader audience of social media is far reaching and
practically immeasurable.

The expansion of social media allows for
corporations to expand into new and previously
unavailable markets, which creates the potential for
reaching an audience numbering well into the hundreds
of thousands. An example of the power of social media
as a far-reaching communication platform is suggested
by Ann Gentle, who describes utilizing Twitter to
locate “a pair of Mario Jibbitz for Crocs shoes. I had
two responses pointing me to sources for the item by
the end of the day from different parts of the world”
(Gentle, 2013, p. 255). The audience for tweets is both
far-reaching and unpredictable, and, given the global
scale of the software platform’s reach, Twitter’s pitfalls
can potentially surpass its utility as a marketing tool.

Literature Review

Alice Marwick and Danah Boyd’s (2011) article “I
tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users,
context collapse, and the imagined audience” explains
the difficulties associated with navigating the Twitter
audience and its juxtaposition to the user’s identity.
Their article is significant because of their work with
context collapse, which, simply stated, is the infinite

audience of a social media post. When a social media
post is created, it can quickly expand beyond the
original audience. This becomes even more complicated
for corporations where the company’s public image on
social media is essentially everything. A corporation
relies on a human social media representative who has
perspectives of his or her own that may differ from the
corporation’s. This sometimes leads to problems when
the representative offers his/her perspective instead of
the company’s. Marwick and Boyd’s (2011) article is
of crucial importance in understanding the roles of
identity and context in social media communications.

David Bauman’s (2011) article on crisis management,
“Ethical Approaches to Crisis Leadership,” offers a
series of successful strategies for managing the damage
caused—either intentionally or unintentionally—by
a corporation. Bauman offers a leaner strategy than
Kador’s (2009) for making amends for corporate wrongs,
suggesting a three-step process: Acknowledge, Apologize,
and Act. These ethical dimensions suggested by Bauman
will offer further insight into the success or failure of
Twitter apology strategies.

William Benoit’s (1997) discussion of corporate
strategies suggests that a corporation’s wrongdoing is
less important in the final analysis than the public’s
perception of their wrongdoing. Benoit suggests that
if there is a corporate scandal, the actual truth is less
important than the way that the corporation reacts
to it. Benoit’s list of corporate strategies will serve as
a counterpoint to the work of Kador and a means of
establishing an effective strategy for the Twitter apology.

Keith Hearit’s (2006) text about corporate responses
to allegations of wrongdoing provides insight into
the nature of a corporation’s persona and the public’s
perception of it in times of a public relations crisis. He
argues that a corporation’s public image becomes, for all
practical purposes, an entity. Although corporations are
not individuals, they come to be seen as such through
their public actions and their public media. Given this
phenomenon, where a corporation can be reduced to
a defacto person, the company is then subject to the
same scrutiny and disdain as an individual. This article
explains how quickly a Twitter foible can become a
publicity crisis.

Additionally, the work of Kim, Sung, and Kang
discusses Twitter and, specifically, the phenomenon
of retweeting, which they describe as “electronic word
of mouth” (p. 19). This phenomenon is important

http://www.justinesacco

Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018 l Technical Communication 13

Allen Berry
Applied Research

because of the article’s focus on tertiary audiences. These
audiences consist of readers for whom the original
message was never intended, such as news media. This
phenomenon is also explored through Web sources, such
as Greg Beaubien’s Public Relations blog. He discusses
how electronic sources, either republish and comment
on particularly scandalous Twitter foibles, or discuss the
fallout that comes as a result of them. Beaubien’s (2014)
article talks about the structure of corporate apologies
and how they express regret while stopping short of
taking responsibility for the actual offense.

Although not limited to the electronic media aspect
of the corporate apology, David Boyd’s (2011) model
as illustrated by his article, “Art and Artifice in Public
Apologies,” offers seven aspects of the public apology
to Kador’s five. Furthermore, Boyd offers binaries for
each of the aspects he examines, such as timeliness
versus tardiness and empathy versus estrangement.
This is particularly crucial when measuring the success
of the apology.

Regarding the phenomenon of the Twitter apology,
Ruth Page (2014), writing for the Journal of Pragmatics,
denotes a set of criteria common in corporate Twitter
apologies. These rhetorical criteria are determined
from a broad sample size, derived from both private
and corporate Twitter accounts. Page examines the
frequency of occurrences of rhetorical devices peculiar
to the apology.

According to Page (2014), an effective apology
requires certain components. Chief among these is
what she describes as the Illocutionary Force Indicating
Device (IFID), which is the actual indication of
apology. The IFID is “apology” or “sorry.” The
components that follow are a means of ameliorating
damage to the company’s reputation.

Explanations, Page (2014) points out, are less
frequent in corporate apologies due to their potential
to be either face saving or face damaging. Alternately,
the company may attempt to evade responsibility by
shifting blame to a third party who is associated with
the company, as was the case with the unfortunate
Home Depot tweet that featured two African American
employees with a third employee in a gorilla costume.
The photo was accompanied by the caption “Which of
these drummers is not like the others?”

The evasion strategy is employed to mitigate
any potential reputation damage that may come as a
consequence of the explanation. Home Depot utilized

the evasion strategy by tweeting that they had fired the
agency who posted the offending tweet, thus shifting
blame from themselves to their agency.

The offer of repair is a means by which the
corporation may attempt to repair any potential damage
by offering a remedy to the situation. Page (2014)
points out that this strategy is applied at a 20% higher
rate with corporations than their non-corporate Twitter
counterparts. This component typically offers some
tangible commodity as compensation for the offense;
this can take on the form of a credit, a replacement of
goods, or a refund.

Finally, Page (2014) suggests following up the
initial apology by asking the offended party for more
information. This accompanies the apology and is
meant to restore the relationship with the customer.
The structure of these information request tweets
typically requires action on the part of one of the

Figure 3. Home Depot’s racist tweet scandal. Via Socialnews-
daily.com. The photo depicts two African American men and
a man in a gorilla mask the caption reads “Which drummer is
not like the others?”

14 Technical Communication l Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018

Applied Research
Corporate Twitter Apologies

participants (either the customer or the company). They
are intended to get the two parties communicating and
repair the relationship between customer and company
by expressing regret for the offense and reassuring the
offended party that the offense will not happen again.

These apology criteria are similar in structure to
those offered by John Kador (2009) in his book on
effective apologies. While Kador’s book focuses on
apologies rendered in the physical world as opposed
to the cyber world, the rhetorical strategies are quite
similar. Using Kador’s book as a lens for this study is due
to his broader approach to the apology. Using Kador’s
strategy as it applies to user experience makes his work
an ideal lens to examine the corporate Twitter apology.

Kador (2009) lists five criteria for effective
apologies: Recognition, Responsibility, Remorse,
Restitution, and Repetition, which he refers to as
“the Five Rs.” Recognition is, in principle, similar to
Page’s (2014) IFID but is somewhat more complex in
that it is the first element of the apology. Kador breaks
down the apology strategy further into component
parts of the illocutionary force indicating device. The
recognition component dictates that the offending party
acknowledges that harm has been caused. The move
toward restitution cannot begin until this first crucial
move has been made.

The responsibility component suggests that the
offender acknowledges wrongdoing to the offended
(and to the public depending on the size of the offense)
that they have committed a wrong. This component
of the apology begins the crucial business of repairing
the damage done. Responsibility, according to Kador
(2009), is a measure of integrity wherein the apologizer
must admit sole culpability for the offense.

Remorse requires that the offender expresses regret
for the offense and any damage that it has caused.
This is similar in scope to Page’s (2014) IFID in that
Kador (2009) suggests that without the actual phrase
“I apologize” or “I’m sorry,” no effective apology can
take place. He further states that there is no equivalent
expression with which to communicate the apology.
Remorse suggests regret for the offense and that the
offender will not willingly repeat it.

The restitution component of the apology is the
proactive effort on the part of the offender to repair the
damage done by offering some means of compensation
for the act. This is important in that it makes the
relationship whole again, contains a sacrifice on the

part of the offender, and communicates the importance
of repairing the relationship to the offended party.
Without the sincere offer of restitution, the relationship
cannot be repaired.

Finally, repetition is the means by which the
offender assures the offended that the initial harm will
not be repeated. Kador (2009) suggests that the absence
of this step causes otherwise appropriate apologies to
lose their potency. With the repetition component
of the apology, the relationship can move forward,
because the fear and suspicion of being victimized again
are alleviated.

Managing Consumer Conflicts Via Twitter

The ready availability of social media with its immediate
and easy access allows for customers to air their
grievances in a nearly immediate fashion, and, if the
consumer has a large social media following, news of
the offense can go viral in a matter of hours or perhaps
even minutes. This complicates Kador’s (2009) 5 R’s
strategy, which requires that the person making the
apology determine to whom he or she should apologize.
On the surface, the solution might seem obvious:
apologize to the offended party. However, when
applied to the far-reaching technology of social media,
deciding to whom to apologize becomes a bit more
difficult. After all, the scope of those who are offended
by such a public foible is only limited to the number
of people who have access to Twitter. In addition to
the initial consumers, there is the secondary audience
of consumers who read the offending tweet once it is
retweeted by friends and by outlets that monitor social
media trends.

Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, and Silvestre
(2011), in their article on the ecology of social media,
refer to theories of stable social interaction in both the
physical and cyber worlds. They hypothesize that social
media has altered the old model by expanding the
potential number of possible relationships that users
can maintain. According to them:

A widely discussed group relationship metric is
Dunbar’s Number, proposed by anthropologist
Robin Dunbar (1992), who theorized that people
have a cognitive limit which restricts the number
of stable social relationships they can have with
other people to about 150. Social media platforms

Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018 l Technical Communication 15

Allen Berry
Applied Research

have recognized that many communities grow well
beyond this number, and offer tools that allow users
to manage membership. (p. 243)

The rise of Twitter and other social media has
made it possible for users to expand their group of
friends beyond their local community. A once relatively
manageable body of friends with common interests
becomes a multitude of individuals with various levels
of interaction and emotional proximity to the social
media user. The Original Poster (OP) may, and likely
does, have numerous followers he or she has never
met or interacted with outside of social media. Twitter
users, be they corporate or private, may have followers
numbering in the hundreds or even thousands. These
followers’ tangential relationship to the user is typically
unreciprocated, and yet they enjoy some measure of
emotional attachment to the Twitter users they follow.
These mostly anonymous individuals are known only
by a screen name to the Twitter users they follow—if
they are recognized at all. These followers compose the
largest and most difficult to navigate audience of the
social media world: the tertiary audience.

The Infinite Tertiary Audience of Twitter
In the realm of social media, there are only the primary
and tertiary audiences. Ordinarily, in corporate
communication, the message is passed through a
series of secondary readers, or gatekeepers, who
approve and control the content of the message prior
to its distribution. The additional filters provided by
gatekeepers (who are oftentimes the social media reps
themselves) and secondary readers are either greatly
reduced or completely removed due to the near
instantaneous nature of social media. Whoever is in
charge of the social media account is in direct contact
with the audience; the message is filtered only by
the Twitter user’s discretion. This can lead to trouble
when an unfiltered message is sent that damages the
company’s reputation, and, given the phenomenon of
retweeting, the tertiary audience of an ill-conceived
tweet is practically infinite.

Robert McEachern, in his 2013 article “Social Media
Challenges for Professional Writers,” addresses one aspect
of this tertiary audience as “watchdog groups.” Like all
tertiary audiences, these are people to whom the message
is not initially intended but who wield some manner of
socio-political power. Typically, the watchdog audience

is a small group of people; however, McEachern points
out that “with social media writing, nearly everyone with
an Internet connection is a potential watchdog audience:
texts can easily be sent, reposted, retweeted, or otherwise
made available to readers who were not part of the
original, focused audience” (p. 281). McEachern offers as
proof the example of an incident that occurred following
the unfortunate response by an American Cancer Society
(ACS) website blogger to a Facebook group calling
for a bald Barbie for children with cancer. The blogger
stated that, given the relatively rare occurrence of cancer
in children, the money potential customers might
spend on the doll would be better spent in the form of
donations to the ACS. Despite the efforts of the blogger
to make amends, removing the offending post and
replacing it with an apology, other bloggers re-posted the
original entry. As a result, the ACS’s Facebook page was
inundated with negative comments from family members
and supporters of children with cancer. In his analysis of
the incident and its aftermath, McEachern states,

Readers of the ACS blog made other interested
parties aware of the ACS blog entry, who made still
others aware; eventually, these readers collectively
had enough power to influence both the ACS and
Mattel. Writing in social media has changed the
extent of watchdog audiences exponentially, as
more outlets allow for easier exchange. (p. 284)

Naturally, the professional writer and the corporate
media specialist must consider the possible implications
of the broader audience and its reaction to what
the writer posts. However, as demonstrated by the
watchdog group phenomenon, the need for caution is
far greater in a world where social media is so prevalent
in everyday life.

Does The Apology Make A Difference?

According to Keith Hearit, “For corporations, their
social personae is their currency their stock in trade.
Damage to their carefully constructed personae
concievably will have an effect on thier bottom lines.
. . . With public criticism, a previously unadulterated
persona has become soiled and the organization’s
persona has become the issue” (2006, p. 11). In
essence, the public image of the company becomes
indistinguishable from the company in the minds of

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the public. Hearit states that “Although the personae
are synthetic creations, in effect, they become ‘a real
fiction’ (Fisher, 1970, p. 132) because they develop
into the vehicle by which individuals experience an
organization” (p. 11). This is perhaps most true in the
case of corporate Twitter accounts, which users come to
view the same as private Twitter users rather than faceless
entities. The corporate persona is magnified through the
Twitter account, which requires human effort to operate.
While social media grants the company a measure of
humanity, it also creates the illusion that the corporation
itself is a person capable of causing personal offense and
harm. This being the case, it is vital that the company
act as a person when it has caused harm or offense.

For corporate entities, making an apology can be
a particularly risky proposition. There is the common
belief that offering an apology carries with it the
potential for legal culpability. However, an article by
Janet Tovey (2003) in Technical Communication states
that “A review of formal (‘black letter’) and common
law indicates that apologies generally do not constitute
evidence of guilt and that, in fact, they sometimes
have positive consequences for the apologist” (p. 420).
A proper apology can have the desired restorative
effect desired by both the company and the offended
party. However, issuing an apology is no guarantee of
forgiveness. Restoring trust is especially complicated in
the relatively new dimension of social media.

An insensitive or poorly worded tweet can result
in a public relations disaster for a corporation; whether
or not an apology on the part of the social media
representative or the company makes a difference is a
matter of some question. Kador (2009) suggests that
an effective apology requires the offender to admit
wrongdoing, which is at best uncomfortable. An
inelegantly crafted response can be just as damaging, if
not more so, than the offending tweet.

The importance of taking responsibility is perhaps
best demonstrated by Esquire magazine’s foible of
a few years ago. On September 11, 2013, Esquire
magazine posted the now famous photograph of “the
falling man” from September 11, 2001, in the style
section of its website. The text accompanying the
photograph boasted the following heading: “Making
Your Morning Commute More Stylish, How to Look
Good on your Way to Work.” Once the error was
caught, the magazine’s media rep took to Twitter with
the following dismissive response: “Relax everybody.

There was a stupid technical glitch on our ‘Falling
Man’ story and it was fixed asap. We’re sorry for the
confusion” (@esquire). The apology offered by Esquire
does contain the requisite IFID and additionally offers
an explanation of the cause for the offense. There is
arguably the vague offer of forbearance, but it lacks
the element of responsibility. Instead, the Esquire
apology attempts to deflect the blame from itself by
shifting blame to a secondary non-entity: technology.
In essence, Esquire suggests that there is no one at fault
in this blunder and that it is simply a case of bad luck.
The most egregious failure of Esquire’s apology is its
condescending tone. Not only does the apology refuse
to accept responsibility, in its attempt to downplay the
offense, it also condescends to its intended audience
and, by doing so, denies any responsibility for the error
in the first place. Although it may be impractical, even
impossible to engage all aspects of Kador’s (2009) and
Page’s (2014) strategies, some of the key features must
be utilized to be rhetorically successful.

Tertiary audiences can be very unforgiving of social
media blunders, particularly if the apology is poorly
handled. In the age of social media, there are no longer
small public relations mistakes. Depending on the
number of the account’s Twitter followers, a Twitter
foible has the potential audience of thousands, and such
mistakes are virtually impossible to cover up or erase.

The website Twitlonger, created by Web developer
Stuart Gibson, allows users to post messages that can
be linked to Twitter and expand beyond the diminutive
140 characters it allows. ESPN Sportscaster Stephen
Smith took to Twitlonger to apologize for comments he
made about domestic violence in light of the Ray Rice
controversy. A portion of the Smith’s text reads:

My series of tweets a short time ago is not an
adequate way to capture my thoughts so I am using
a single tweet via Twitlonger to more appropriately
and effectively clarify my remarks from earlier
today about the Ray Rice situation. I completely
recognize the sensitivity of the issues and the
confusion and disgust that my comments caused.
(@stephenasmith)

These incidents, among others, suggest that a large
enough social media blunder requires a much larger
rhetorical response, wherein one social media’s text is
addressed on another platform. Responding to a Twitter

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failure on another platform; such as Facebook, Blogger,
or a company website; does allow for greater space to
address the criteria set forth by Kador’s (2009) and
Page’s (2014) writings on effective apologies. However,
responding via a different medium means that those
who were initially offended may be alienated from
the resulting apology. However, an elegantly rendered
series of tweets can be equally effective, if not more so
than cross-media reparation. Marketing Consultant
Tami Wessley of the Weidert Group marketing agency
suggests responding first on the platform where the
incident first took place. Wessley states,

If the flare-up happened on Facebook, respond
there first—it won’t help to jump platforms if
the conversation and chaos are happening within
another audience. After that initial response, go
ahead and expand to other outlets if you believe
the situation will “spread,” develop a dedicated
microsite to house your official response and
messages if the situation warrants, and direct
anyone interested to that site. (2016, para. 6)

Wessley’s strategy suggests that the best platform for
addressing a social media crisis is the platform where
the trouble initially occurred. Logically speaking, both
primary and tertiary audiences will be drawn to the site
of the original post and therefore more likely to read
any attempts at apologizing the offender might make.
This strategy is two-fold in that it may serve to reduce
the damage by assuaging those who took offense and
prevent the tweet from (to use a bit of Internet slang)
“flaming.” Second, the aforementioned audiences will
likely return to the site of the conflict rather than seek
information or redress on the company’s other media,
such as the corporate website.

Additionally, attempting to apologize across other
platforms places the offended party, who is already
under duress, in a position where they are responsible
for taking action to resolve the offense. According to
Ruth Page (2014),

The directives and requests that require the
customer to initiate further interaction are
inherently face-threatening, for they place the
obligation to pursue reparation with the customer,
not with the company. This is a risky strategy,
for there is no guarantee that the customer will

continue the interactions, and further good will
(and future customers) may be lost. (p. 40)

Though Page’s analysis applies to the practice
of requesting the customer call for a face-to-face
interaction, the principle remains the same. Even
tweeting a link to an apology on a separate social media
platform or company blog requires further action on
the part of the offended parties and carries the same
risk of additional damage. The most effective apology
restricts making reparations to the platform in which
the initial offense occurred. An offensive tweet should
be apologized for on Twitter, an offensive Facebook post
on Facebook, and so on.

Methods

For the purposes of this study, in September of 2014,
I compiled a convenience sample of forty corporate
Twitter apologies by entering the terms “Twitter
Apology” into Google. These tweets were analyzed on
the basis of the five dimensions of effective apologies set
forth in John Kador’s (2009) book, Effective Apology:
Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust.
The success of the apologies was rated on the basis
of public response via Twitter users. Kador’s formula
succinctly defines the aspects of an effective apology.
Kador’s study uses examples from the political world
similar to John Edwards’ now famous 2008 apology.
Conversely, it uses business world examples, like Turner
Broadcasting’s apology for their ill-conceived flashing
Aqua Teen Hunger Force guerilla marketing campaign.
Using Kador’s “Five R’s,” as a basis, I examine the
tweets’ rhetorical construction as well as their social
implications. The verbal and rhetorical structure of
the individual tweets will be analyzed in terms of the
frequency of individual dimensions’ occurrence across
the sampling of apologetic tweets. Additionally, this
article will examine the audience and medium that the
individual apologies must address.

Kador’s Strategy in Application

Engaging all five of Kador’s (2009) strategies is, in
most cases, impossible, but some combination of these
strategies is necessary to achieve a successful apology.
Of the sampling of 40 Twitter apologies, all acceptable
apologies demonstrated at least some portion of the

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Corporate Twitter Apologies

five criteria. The following graphic demonstrates the
percentages of each of Kador’s dimensions in relation to
the 40 Twitter apologies surveyed:

Table 1. Kador’s Strategy applied to tweet sample

Kador’s Five Criteria in Relation to Successful Twitter Apologies

Recognition 97.5 %

Responsibility 57.5 %

Remorse 92.5%

Restitution 37.5 %

Repetition 17.5 %

Recognition
Recognition is the aspect of the apology wherein the
offender acknowledges that he or she has hurt someone.
In the recognition phase, the offender establishes what
he or she is apologizing for, how it affected others, to
whom to apologize, and what form the apology should
take. Once the offender has established that he/she has
done something wrong and that an apology should be
issued, only then can the work of the apology begin.

In the sampling of 40 Twitter apologies examined in
this paper, 97.5% of the tweets examined acknowledged
the offense within the body of the text. For example,
one of the more effective Twitter apologies was posted
by Julianne Hough apologizing for a controversial
Halloween costume: “I am a huge fan of the show
Orange is the New Black, actress Uzo Aduba, and the
character she has created. It certainly was never my
intention to be disrespectful or demeaning to anyone in
any way. I realize my costume hurt and offended people
and I truly apologize” (@juliannehough). Not only
does Hough acknowledge the offense but also takes the
extra step of explaining that she understands how her
actions hurt others, thereby acknowledging the effect
her actions had on others.

Additionally, a media rep for KitchenAid engaged
the recognition strategy in the company’s response to a
famously insensitive tweet about the death of President
Barack Obama’s grandmother. After initially blaming the
company’s social media rep and assuring followers that
the rep had been fired, a spokesman for the company
stated, “I would like to personally apologize to President
@BarackObama, his family and everyone on Twitter for
the offensive Tweet sent earlier” (KitchenAid, 2012).
This succinct but effective reply acknowledges that an

offense was committed and further acknowledged who
the offended parties were. Although the limitations
of the platform do not allow for a lengthy mea culpa,
the KitchenAid response fulfills the requirements of
recognition by addressing the parties directly and
acknowledging that the initial tweet was hurtful.

Responsibility
There is often an attempt on the part of the party making
the apology to avoid culpability for the offense, instead
casting it in the light of unfortunate circumstance. This
is best demonstrated by the shopworn cliché, “mistakes
were made,” wherein no one accepts responsibility.
However, Kador (2009) states in his criteria for effective
apologies, “In the responsibility dimension there is a
focus on making the apology more about the needs of
the victim than about redemption for the offender” (p.
73). The offending party must acknowledge fault for
their actions and, in doing so, take full blame for the
harm that they have caused. From the samples selected
for this paper, only 57.5 % expressed responsibility
for the offense in question. There are a number of
possible reasons for this reduced number, one of which
is the need to save face as suggested by Page’s (2014)
findings. Referring to an earlier theorist’s work on
apology strategies, she suggests, “Benoit’s strategies for
corrective action may include a promise of forbearance,
or make an offer of repair to compensate the victim.
In contrast, if the apologiser wishes to downplay
their role in the perceived offence, they may include
explanations which variously deny the offence or evade
responsibility” (p. 32). This is evident in the apology
by Urban Outfitters for their Kent State sweatshirt,
“Urban Outfitters sincerely apologizes for any offense
our Vintage Kent State Sweatshirt may have caused. It
was never our intention to allude to the tragic events
that took place at Kent State in 1970 and we are
extremely saddened that this item was perceived as
such” (@UrbanOutfitters). Urban Outfitters’ apology
avoids taking any responsibility for the offense, instead
redirecting blame onto those who took offense at the
product. This is standard fare according to Benoit’s
theory. Rather than express mortification directly, Urban
Outfitters chose to attempt the “Reducing Offensiveness
of Event” strategy, employing a combination of the
sub-strategies of minimization and attacking the accuser.
This strategy could be employed to great effect in the case
of a single known accuser, or a small party of accusers.

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Applied Research

However, the relative anonymity afforded by Twitter
makes such strategies, at best, risky. A small group of
accusers might be easily contained, even discredited in a
real-world incident, but the size of a Twitter audience is
unquantifiable and therefore it is impossible to discredit
the entire audience.

By refusing to accept fault for their actions, the
company garnered the ire of their followers, who
retorted via Twitter:

Figure 4. Twitter user backlash against Urban Outfitters,
claiming that Urban Outfitters’ apology is a non-apology.
Courtesy of The Plain Dealer.

Twitter followers responded quickly, stating that
they would no longer be patronizing Urban Outfitters
again because of this incident.

By failing to accept responsibility, the company
exacerbated an already unfortunate public relations
failure. Contrast this incident with the DiGiorno Pizza
incident. A DiGiorno’s pizza social media rep responded

to a trending topic: hashtag #WhyIStayed. The topic
began in the wake of the recent Ray Rice abuse scandal,
with women tweeting about their personal experiences
with abuse. The social media representative, in an effort
to raise brand awareness by weighing in on a trending
topic, posted the following tweet: “#WhyIStayed. You
had Pizza.” (@DiGiorno Pizza). The representative
quickly apologized for the offending tweet and followed
up with an explanation: “A million apologies. I did
not read what hashtag was about before posting” (@
DiGiornoPizza). However, this was not the end of
DiGiorno’s restitution. The DiGiorno representative
also engaged both recognition and responsibility for the
offense and repeatedly expressed remorse for his actions
and, by implication, ensured that such an incident
would not occur again, satisfying Kador’s (2009)
requirement for repetition.

DiGiorno’s mistake was a potentially damaging
social media foible, given the currency and scope of both
the mistake and the societal issues that surround it. The
social media rep took full responsibility and made the
effort to personally respond to all social media users who
tweeted in response. A sampling of those responses offers
an excellent case study in best Twitter apology practices:

Figure 5. Best practices example of the Twitter Apology.
DiGiorno Rep makes multiple personal apologies to each of-
fended Twitter user who replied to the initial tweet, Courtesy
of Ad Week, “DiGiorno is really, really sorry.”

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In the case of the DiGiorno Twitter debacle, the
company’s social media representative addressed each
response individually. Additionally, the media rep
utilized the tools of an effective apology and made no
effort to excuse the blunder. Two days after the initial
mistake, after a number of responses to the tertiary
audience, the company rep posted a final, blanket
apology to the company’s feed, stating: “We heard
from many of you and we know we disappointed
you. We understand, and we apologize to everyone
for this mistake” (@DiGiornoPizza). The DiGiorno
incident represents best practices in responding
to a social media blunder by addressing not only
the tertiary audience but also each responding
audience member individually. The media rep
acknowledges that an offense has been committed
and also apologizes personally; in doing so,
DiGiorno acknowledges the importance of the most
unpredictable demographic, the tertiary audience.
However, the potency of this apology does not lie
exclusively in the fact that the rep addresses each
respondent. The media rep also offers an apology to
anyone who might have been offended by DiGiorno’s
tweet and said nothing. DiGiorno’s approach is
superior because it recognizes the personal nature of
the offense and seeks to address it personally with the
injured parties.

The response to DiGiorno’s apology was quite
favorable, prompting one follower to reply: “People
need to learn to come clean gracefully like @
DiGiornopizza. You’re forgiven, pizza man” (@
carlydermott). Utilizing the media where the offense
took place allowed for DiGiorno to exercise control
over the response, and the audience to whom they
would respond. Changing the venue for responding
to the offense would be to risk losing the initial
tertiary audience and possibly even expanding the
audience by raising awareness of the offense. By
staying on Twitter, the company wisely navigated the
perceived intimacy that Twitter followers enjoy with
the users they follow. In short, the DiGiorno social
media rep utilized the company’s persona to respond
to its followers as if the account were representative
of an individual as opposed to a corporation.

The company did not attempt to dissemble or
divert blame from itself. Instead, they acknowledged
full responsibility for their offensive tweet and made
every effort to address each complaint directly.

Remorse
Perhaps one of Kador’s (2009) most important criteria
is the admission of remorse. He states that “Because
there is no way to know whether someone else is
experiencing remorse, we rely on a variety of verbal
and nonverbal cues. By far the most important verbal
cue, without which a statement falls short of being an
actual apology, is the phrase ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘I apologize’”
(p. 85). Given that body language and other non-
verbal cues are absent in electronic communication,
it is a bit more difficult to express remorse. Unlike
a face-to-face apology, on social media, the non-
verbal dimensions of body language, tone, and facial
expression are unavailable.

In the sampling of Twitter apologies drawn for
this study, 92.5% expressed remorse via Illocutionary
Force Indicating Device. Of the apologies studied, the
word “sorry” appeared ten times, whereas variations
on “apology/apologize” appeared 33 times (some
apologies from the sample utilize multiple IFIDs).
Of the apologies that lacked any IFID, the corporate
tweets were an attempt to minimize the offense or to
defer blame for the initial offense. Case in point, the
Kenneth Cole apology for attempting to co-opt the

Figure 6. Best Practices Part II. Twitter DiGiorno receives
positive replies to their Twitter apology.

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Allen Berry
Applied Research

Arab Spring as a marketing tool, “Kenneth Cole: ‘Re
Egypt Tweet: we weren’t intending to make light of
a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of
this historic moment -KC’” (Ehrlich, 2011). While
the tweet does respond to the initial offense, it lacks
the expression of remorse and seeks only to minimize
culpability for any outrage that it may have caused.
In similar fashion, the Gap attempted to remove
all blame by suggesting that their mistake was a
misunderstanding on the part of their followers. The
Gap tweeted, “To all impacted by #Sandy, stay safe.
Our check-in and tweet earlier were only meant to
remind all to keep safe and indoors” (Wasserman,
2012). The apology here does not meet the criteria
for an apology at all, due to its lack of any of Kador’s
criteria. Instead, it seeks to divert any attention
away from the insensitive nature of the tweet or to
even admit any wrongdoing. Twitter can be used
as an effective media to apologize for mistakes, as
was demonstrated admirably by DiGiorno Pizza.
The representative responded to every tweet and the
responses were all posted on the media platform where
the original offense was committed.

Restitution
Restitution is an aspect of Kador’s (2009) strategy
that presents certain challenges in the Twittersphere.
Making restitution in the physical world can be
completed in a number of ways. The offender might
offer coupons, which was the strategy employed by
the manager of a St. Louis Chipotle restaurant for
a disgruntled customer who happened to write for
the Riverfront Times. The customer took to Twitter
to lodge her complaint and was quickly contacted
by Chris Arnold, the company’s social media rep.
This resulted in the manager apologizing to the
customer and offering coupons. The social media
rep followed up as well: “Manager did the right
thing. May be the only right thing on this visit.
My apologies. Hope you’ll use the coupons to see
us again” (Wheeler, 2012). However, restitution is
not necessarily restricted to the exchange of tangible
goods or services. Kador states that “restitution is the
clearest expression of the offender’s desire to restore
the relationship” (p. 97). This can be done by offering
the acknowledgment that work is being done to repair
the relationship and that can be accomplished by
stating that some sacrifice has been made to that end.

Consider the previously mentioned Home Depot
controversy where a social media rep tweeted a racist
photograph. In this instance, restitution took the
form of firing the rep who made the racist tweet. The
apology contained the promise that someone was
held accountable for the injury he had committed.
Although there was no tangible offer of goods or
services, there was action taken to call the party
responsible into account for his actions.

Figure 7. The Repetition Strategy in action. Via Twitter.
Home Depot Reassures followers that the offense of their
racist tweet will not be repeated.

Repetition
The final dimension of Kador’s strategy for apologies is
repetition. In order for an apology to be effective, there
must be the assurance that it will not happen again,
and in the realm of Twitter apologies, it is the rarest.
As proven by our sample, only 17.5% of the apologies
sampled offered assurance that the offense would not
be repeated. According to Kador (2009), “This is the
step that many otherwise thoughtful apologies omit.
But through that omission otherwise good apologies
suffer, because all victims may have a conscious or
unconscious barrier to accepting an apology” (p.
113). Accepting an apology makes the wronged
party vulnerable by extending trust to someone who
has already violated said trust. Acceptance places
the offended party at risk of being hurt again. An
assurance from the offender that the harm will not
reoccur helps restore the broken trust.

Case in point is the message issued from
KitchenAid’s Twitter account, which made a joke
about President Obama’s grandmother’s death prior
to his taking office. The tasteless joke was quickly
removed from the company’s account and an apology
issued. The following apology appeared on the
company’s Twitter feed:

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Corporate Twitter Apologies

Figure 8. KitchenAid’s Repetition Strategy. Via Twitter.

This tweet was followed shortly by a second tweet
from the company offering the assurance that repetition
would not occur.

Figure 9. Repetition Strategy part II. Via Twitter. KitchenAid
assures followers that the offending party who posted an
offensive tweet has been fired.

By assuring followers that the person responsible
for the offense would no longer be in a position
to repeat it, KitchenAid was able to restore the
relationship with their customers as evidenced by
Twitter follower’s responses. Although there were those
who were not so ready to forgive, the reaction was
mostly positive.

An effective apology should contain the dimension
of repetition. In order to restore trust, there must be
the assurance that the offense will not be repeated and
damage the mended trust. This is difficult for both
parties in the Twittersphere, because the audience and
its sensibilities are, at best, unpredictable. Depending
on the nature of the offense, the assurance of repetition
is not always possible; however, as evidenced by the
KitchenAid example, when possible, the attempt
should be made.

Conclusion

Social media is a difficult landscape for corporations
to navigate. Despite its obvious benefits with regard to
inexpensive (and in some cases cost-free) marketing and
promotion, social media does carry a measure of risk.
The instantaneous nature of Twitter communication
makes mistakes difficult to recover from. The emerging
genre of the Twitter apology is still developing, but
the strategies laid out by John Kador (2009) provide
an effective approach to making amends for offenses.
In addition to the dimensions he suggests, it is crucial
that the party offering the apology consider and address
both primary and tertiary audiences. Thanks to the
inception of social media, an offense that might have

Figure 10. Twitter user response. Via Twitter. Twitter users
respond to KitchenAid’s apology.

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Applied Research

once been handled quietly among a few involved
parties now has the potential to destroy a company’s
public image. The modern audience is only limited to
those who have access to the Internet. A small measure
of private restitution is no longer sufficient to make
reparations. Modern social media audiences have
become de facto stakeholders in the interests of the
brands they follow. Therefore, social media users expect
a public mea culpa in the event of public debacles.
Addressing these offended parties is crucial and it must
be done in the medium where the offending remarks
were posted. To do otherwise is to risk alienating or
failing to reach the primary and tertiary audiences of
the original offense. Done correctly, the Twitter apology
can restore consumer confidence and strengthen
the brand’s image. Therefore, it is crucial that both
corporate social media representatives and small
business users educate themselves on the proper strategy
for managing social media blunders.

In order to create a successful Twitter apology, the
social media manager must employ some of the aspects
of traditional apologies but with a mind toward the
ever-expanding nature of the Twitter audience. First
and foremost, the apology must be managed on the
platform where the initial offense took place. Moving
the discussion beyond Twitter, to the company website
or Facebook account, is to risk alienating the original
audience who might be following the fall-out of the
initial response. Additionally, apologizing on a different
platform can expand the audience by drawing attention
to the inciting event.

Acceptance of responsibility is of key importance.
Contrary to the standard rule of avoiding culpability
or attempting to shift blame to a third party, social
media blunders are so clearly public there is little point
in attempting to deny the offense. Once the initial
offense has occurred, make the apology quickly in order
to try to control the potential damage. Remember
that a particularly damaging tweet can go viral, so
the audience expands extremely quickly. Context
collapse is an important consideration when dealing
with Twitter foibles. Consistently, the verbal and
non-verbal cues that provide context and clarity are
removed, leaving the information to the interpretation
of the reader—an interpretation that can take on
unintended dimensions. Because the offense takes place
on Twitter, the audience is potentially global, and the
stakeholders become anyone who has access to social

media and whose impression of the company might be
negatively affected.

As a matter of course, the social media manager
should, if at all possible, respond to everyone who
replies. This was best demonstrated in the case of
DiGiorno’s Pizza, where the social media rep followed
up with a blanket tweet apologizing to any potential
audience members who witnessed the offense and chose
not to respond. Although no strategy is guaranteed to
reach all audiences, this strategy will address the greatest
number of potential audiences.

As demonstrated by the examples of Urban
Outfitters and AT&T, an apology that fails to accept
responsibility for the offense or attempts to shift blame
only further angers the audience and increases the
damage to the company’s public image. While even the
sincerest apology will have its detractors, an insincere
post is subject to the same viral consequences as the
initial offense.

The corporate Twitter apology differs in scope
and structure from the standard corporate apology
principally in the way that it must address its audience.
A Twitter offense is much more difficult to address due
to the speed and near infinite reach of the platform.
In dealing with a social media foible, speed and
comprehensiveness are invaluable. Although these
incidents can be damaging to a corporation’s image, by
employing this effective strategy, a company can recover
and emerge with a stronger public image.

References

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http://www.someecards.com/news/so-that-happened/the-most-disastrous-tweets-that-probably-got-people-fired/

24 Technical Communication l Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018

Applied Research
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horrible domestic abuses that are sadly such a major
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the shirt and the holes are from natural wear and fray.
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Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018 l Technical Communication 25

Allen Berry
Applied Research

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http://www.weidert.com/whole_brain_

http://www.riverfronttimes

26 Technical Communication l Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018

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About the Author

Allen Berry received his PhD in creative writing from
the University of Southern Mississippi in 2013 and
a Certificate of Technical Writing from University
of Alabama Huntsville’s Graduate Program in 2015.
He currently teaches technical and business writing
online for the University of Alabama Huntsville and
Composition and Literature at South Georgia State
College. He is the author of three collections of poetry.
This is his first publication to appear in Technical
Communication. He is available at jab0003@uah.edu.

Manuscript received 16 December 2016, revised 5 July 2017;
accepted 12 September 2017.

Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018 l Technical Communication 27

Allen Berry
Applied Research

Appendix 1

Twitter Apologies Examined for this Article
1) Urban Outfitters sincerely apologizes for any

offense our Vintage Kent State Sweatshirt may
have caused.

2) @KelloggsUK the cereal company posted ‘1 RT = 1
breakfast for a vulnerable child’

‘We want to apologise for the recent Tweet, wrong
use of words. It’s deleted. We give funding to
school breakfast clubs in vulnerable areas.’

3) @USAirways We apologize for an inappropriate
image recently shared as a link in one of our
responses. We’ve removed the Tweet and are
investigating.

4) @DiGiorno: I stayed because you had pizza.

@ DiGiorno: A million apologies. I did not read
what hashtag was about before posting.

@ DiGiorno: http://www.adweek.com/
adfreak/digiorno-really-really-sorry-about-its-
Tweet-accidentally-making-light-domestic-
violence-159998

5) IAC PR counsel: ““Going to Africa. Hope I don’t
get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”

Twitter Account Cancelled.

6) Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO: I worded my answer
terribly. I really apologize for what it sounded like
out of the context and notion of Flickr Pro.

7) LA Kings We apologize for the Tweets that came
from a guest of our organization. They were
inappropriate and do not reflect the LA Kings.

8) Gerald Scarfe has never reflected the opinions of the
Sunday Times. Nevertheless, we owe major apology
for grotesque, offensive cartoon.

9) KitchenAid, Obama Tweet: in one Tweet, she
said that “I would like to personally apologize to
President @BarackObama, his family and everyone
on Twitter for the offensive Tweet sent earlier.” In
another, she said the offensive Tweet was “carelessly
sent in error by a member of our Twitter team who,
needless to say, won’t be Tweeting for us anymore.”

10) Spaghetti O’s: “We apologize for our recent Tweet
in remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day. We meant to
pay respect, not to offend.”

11) Home Depot Racist Tweet apology: “We have zero
tolerance for anything so stupid and offensive.
Deeply sorry. We terminated agency and individual
who posted it.”

12) AT &T: We apologize to anyone who felt our post
was in poor taste. The image was solely meant to
pay respect to those affected by the 9/11 tragedy.

13) Atlanta Journal Constitution apologizes for racist
Tweet: The AJC apologizes for & deeply regrets
the Tweet that was posted earlier today. We are
working to address this situation internally.

14) Entenmann’s: Sorry everyone! We weren’t trying to
reference the trial in our Tweet. We should have
checked the trending hashtag in our Tweet.

15) Kenneth Cole: “Re Egypt Tweet: we weren’t
intending to make light of a serious situation.
We understand the sensitivity of this historic
moment -KC”

16) Spinning Platters, Rashida Jones: Made a
thoughtless comment about John Travolta. I
sincerely apologize. Nobody’s personal life is my
business.

17) Daniel Tosh: all the out of context misquotes aside,
i’d like to sincerely apologize http://j.mp/PJ8bNs

18) Jason Kidd Drunk Driving: I regret any disruption
my accident last weekend may have caused

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/digiorno-really-really-sorry-about-its-tweet-accidentally-making-light-domestic-violence-159998

http://j.mp/PJ8bNs

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/digiorno-really-really-sorry-about-its-tweet-accidentally-making-light-domestic-violence-159998

http://j.mp/PJ8bNs

28 Technical Communication l Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018

Applied Research
Corporate Twitter Apologies

members of the community and want to thank the
local authorities.

19) https://Twitter.com/LuisSuarez9/
status/483659463417548800

20) Oprah Winfrey to Nielsen: “I removed the Tweet
at the request of Nielsen. I intended no harm and
apologize for the reference.”

21) Ashton Kutcher: The Tweet @aplusk wishes he never
wrote? “How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as
a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste,” dashed off on
Nov. 10 after Kutcher heard that Paterno had been
fired, but hadn’t heard why he had been fired. The
worst kind of “oops.” Kutcher apologized profusely
to his 8 million followers, Tweeted a picture of
himself next to a sign saying “I’m with stupid,”
and then announced he would be turning the
management of his feed over to his publicists.

22) Alec Baldwin: Alec Baldwin was so incensed that he
was asked to stop playing Words with friends on
a flight between L.A. and N.Y. in early December
that he couldn’t resist Tweeting it. “Flight attendant
on American reamed me out 4 playing WORDS
W FRIENDS while we sat at the gate, not moving.
#nowonderamericaairisbankrupt.” The anger
expressed in that Tweet, and a subsequent one that
ended “#realwayisunited” gave the press something
to pounce on, and by the end of the day, the story
was everywhere. Baldwin later apologized for his
behavior on Huffington Post and deactivated his
Twitter account.

23) Patton Oswald, false Tweets: @pattonoswalt
Oops. Just deleted my last Tweet. & would like to
apologize to seniors & sufferers of Lyme disease. I
was out of bounds.

@pattonoswalt Yikes. Had to delete another
Tweet. I crossed a line on that one. Also, I thought
12 YEARS A SLAVE and THE BUTLER were
brilliant.

http://www.funnyordie.com/lists/3a81fffa8e/
patton-oswalt-angers-Twitter-idiots-with-fake-
apologies

24) @NYPD25Pct Sincere apologies 4 insensitive
& unprofessional Tweets. Not how I was raised,
trained, have served. Will work 2 restore trust/
confidence.

25) Fahmi Fadzil, sentenced to 100 Twitter apologies:
1/100 I’ve DEFAMED Blu Inc Media & Female
Magazine. My Tweets on their HR Policies are
untrue. I retract those words & hereby apologize

26) Stephen A. Smith: My series of Tweets a short time
ago is not an adequate way to capture my thoughts
so I am using a single Tweet via Twitlonger to
more appropriately and effectively clarify my
remarks from earlier today about the Ray Rice
situation. I completely recognize the sensitivity
of the issues and the confusion and disgust that
my comments caused. First off, as I said earlier
and I want to reiterate strongly, it is never OK to
put your hands on a women. Ever. I understand
why that important point was lost in my other
comments, which did not come out as I intended.
I want to state very clearly. I do NOT believe a
woman provokes the horrible domestic abuses that
are sadly such a major problem in our society. I
wasn’t trying to say that or even imply it when I
was discussing my own personal upbringing and
the important role the women in my family have
played in my life. I understand why my comments
could be taken another way. I should have done a
better job articulating my thoughts and I sincerely
apologize.

27) French Journalist: 466 times In May, two French
politicians won a novel conviction against a critic
who had been calling them names on Twitter.
In addition to paying a fine and court costs, the
critic was ordered to Tweet the same message 466
times over 30 days: “I have severely insulted Jean-
Francois Cope and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet. I
regret and apologize.”

28) Chipotle Media apology: Manager did the right
thing. May be the only right thing on this visit.
My apologies. Hope you’ll use the coupons to
see us again. (Sat 13 Mar 3:54) http://blogs.
riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2010/03/Twitter_
fight_chipotle_uses_social_media.php

My apologies to Chiellini: pic.twitter.com/CvfkkjxzlM

— Luis Suárez (@LuisSuarez9) June 30, 2014

http://www.funnyordie.com/lists/3a81fffa8e/patton-oswalt-angers-twitter-idiots-with-fake-apologies

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2010/03/twitter_fight_chipotle_uses_social_media.php

My apologies to Chiellini: pic.twitter.com/CvfkkjxzlM

— Luis Suárez (@LuisSuarez9) June 30, 2014

http://www.funnyordie.com/lists/3a81fffa8e/patton-oswalt-angers-twitter-idiots-with-fake-apologies

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/gutcheck/2010/03/twitter_fight_chipotle_uses_social_media.php

Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018 l Technical Communication 29

Allen Berry
Applied Research

29) Soccer Player over infidelity scandal @_
OlivierGiroud_ Ultimate precision with respect
to my apologies…Yes I made a mistake but not I
have not committed adultery! Things are clear… @_
OlivierGiroud_ I apologise to my wife, family and
friends and my manager, team-mates and Arsenal
fans. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1962149-
olivier-giroud-issues-apology-on-Twitter-amidst-
infidelity-scandal

30) Julianne Hough: “I am a huge fan of the show
Orange Is the New Black, actress Uzo Aduba, and
the character she has created,” Hough Tweeted. “It
certainly was never my intention to be disrespectful
or demeaning to anyone in any way. I realize my
costume hurt and offended people and I truly
apologize.”

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rqfec1

31) Southwest Airlines apologizes to Kevin Smith: @
ThatKevinSmith hey Kevin! I’m so sorry for your
experience tonight! Hopefully we can make things
right, please follow so we may DM!

Hey folks – trust me, I saw the Tweets from @
ThatKevinSmith I’ll get all the details and handle
accordingly! Thanks for your concerns!

I read every single Tweet that comes into this
account, and take every Tweet seriously. We’ll
handle @thatkevinsmith issue asap

I’ve read the Tweets all night from @thatkevinsmith
– He’ll be getting a call at home from our Customer
Relations VP tonight.

@ThatKevinSmith Ok, I’ll be sure to check it out.
Hopefully you received our voicemail earlier this
evening.

@ThatKevinSmith Again, I’m very sorry for the
experience you had tonight. Please let me know if
there is anything else I can do.

@ThatKevinSmith We called you on the number
you had on file in your reservation. If you prefer a
different number, please DM me. Thanks!

Our apology to @ThatKevinSmith and more
details regarding the events from last night – http://
cot.ag/96KHC7 #Southwest http://mashable.
com/2010/02/14/southwest-kevin-smith/

32) Belvedre Vodka: We apologize to any of our fans
who were offended by our recent Tweet. We
continue to be an advocate for safe and responsible
drinking. http://observer.com/2012/03/belvedere-
vodka-sort-of-apologizes-for-rapey-Twitter-
advertising/

33) Gilbert Gotfried, Tsunami Tweet: @Therealgilbert
I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended
by my attempt at humor regarding the tragedy in
Japan.

@therealgilbert: I meant no disrespect, and my
thoughts are with the victims and their families.

34) MMA Fighter, War Machine: @WarMachine170
I Tweeted something earlier that was stupid,
insensitive and wrong. Rape is never something
to joke about ever. I sincerely apologize. http://
bleacherreport.com/articles/1734067-bellator-ceo-
bjorn-rebney-issues-statement-on-war-machines-
offensive-Tweet

35) Chiefs Apologizes to fan: @KCChiefs I apologize
to the fans for my response to a Tweet sent
to me earlier. No excuse for my actions. I
am truly sorry and it won’t happen again.
http://www.kshb.com/sports/football/chiefs/
chiefs-apologize-for-angry-Twitter-message

36) Author Don Milleris apology for offensive blog
post: So very sorry to have offended you and
your friends. Very thankful for your tone. http://
thoughtsbynatalie.com/2011/08/Twitter-apologies-
gratitude.html

37) The Onion apologizes to Quivenze Wallis: “On
behalf of The Onion, I offer my personal apology
to Quvenzhané Wallis and the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences for the Tweet that was
circulated last night during the Oscars. It was crude
and offensive—not to mention inconsistent with

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1962149-olivier-giroud-issues-apology-on-twitter-amidst-infidelity-scandal

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rqfec1

http://mashable.com/2010/02/14/southwest-kevin-smith/

Update: Belvedere Vodka (Sort of) Apologizes for Using Rape Jokes to Sell Alcohol on Twitter, Donates to Women’s Charity Person on Facebook

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney Issues Statement on War Machine's 'Offensive' Tweet

http://www.kshb.com/sports/football/chiefs/chiefs-apologize-for-angry-twitter-message

http://thoughtsbynatalie.com/2011/08/twitter-apologies-gratitude.html

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1962149-olivier-giroud-issues-apology-on-twitter-amidst-infidelity-scandal

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rqfec1

http://mashable.com/2010/02/14/southwest-kevin-smith/

Update: Belvedere Vodka (Sort of) Apologizes for Using Rape Jokes to Sell Alcohol on Twitter, Donates to Women’s Charity Person on Facebook

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney Issues Statement on War Machine's 'Offensive' Tweet

http://www.kshb.com/sports/football/chiefs/chiefs-apologize-for-angry-twitter-message

http://thoughtsbynatalie.com/2011/08/twitter-apologies-gratitude.html

30 Technical Communication l Volume 65, Number 1, February 2018

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Corporate Twitter Apologies

The Onion’s commitment to parody and satire,
however biting.

No person should be subjected to such a senseless,
humorless comment masquerading as satire.

The Tweet was taken down within an hour of
publication. We have instituted new and tighter
Twitter procedures to ensure that this kind of
mistake does not occur again.

In addition, we are taking immediate steps to
discipline those individuals responsible.

Miss Wallis, you are young and talented and
deserve better. All of us at The Onion are deeply
sorry.”

38) Healthcare.gov apologizes: @HealthCareGov @
elmnmd We apologize for the technical difficulties.
We are working to fix these issues as soon as
possible. Thank you for your patience!

http://www.nrcc.org/2013/10/01/obamacare-
making-Twitter-timeline-healthcaregov-sad/

39) Pepsi apologizes for suicide ad: Huw Gilbert, Senior
Manager for Communications at Pepsico, posted
these replies:

@christinelu Huw from Pepsi here. We agree this
creative is totally inappropriate; we apologize and
please know it won’t run again. #pepsi

@christinelu @huwgilbert posted our response. My
best friend committed suicide – this is a topic very
close to my heart. My deepest apologies.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pepsi-apologizes-
on-Twitter-for-suicide-ad-by-bbdo/

40) Durex Condoms apologizes: The Tweet read, “We
wrote a post supporting Taeyeon and Baekhyun’s
love. As idols getting public attention, it would not
be easy to love. Durex supports all kinds of love.
However, we found out that this support could
greatly hurt the fans. We apologize.”

http://www.allkpop.com/buzz/2014/06/uh-
oh-condom-fail-durexs-Twitter-apologizes-for-
inappropriate-baekhyun-and-taeyeon-Tweet

Here’s HealthCare.Gov’s Twitter Feed Going From Happy to Really Sorry in Just a Few Hours

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pepsi-apologizes-on-twitter-for-suicide-ad-by-bbdo/

http://www.allkpop.com/buzz/2014/06/uh-oh-condom-fail-durexs-twitter-apologizes-for-inappropriate-baekhyun-and-taeyeon-tweet

Here’s HealthCare.Gov’s Twitter Feed Going From Happy to Really Sorry in Just a Few Hours

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pepsi-apologizes-on-twitter-for-suicide-ad-by-bbdo/

http://www.allkpop.com/buzz/2014/06/uh-oh-condom-fail-durexs-twitter-apologizes-for-inappropriate-baekhyun-and-taeyeon-tweet

Southwest Airlines uses software to perform triage on upset customers. Computers look for
keywords that show up in the letters, then sort the notes into four personality categories:
Feelers, Drivers, Entertainers and Thinkers. Customer relations agents then write to that type
of personality.

“The driver wants bullet points and results. The
feeler needs to be caressed. But we close with the
same result,” said Wayne Shaw, Southwest’s
director of customer relations.

Airlines apologize a lot to their customers.
They’ve made a science of saying sorry out of
necessity: The Department of Transportation
fines airlines for not responding to customers
with “substantive” answers to gripes.

Besides the regulatory requirement of a response
within 30 days for disability issues and 60 days
for other problems, airlines say handling
complaints is a crucial part of their business. A
good apology can turn an angry customer into a

loyal customer; a bad apology can make a bad situation worse.

“A sincere apology is a hard thing to deliver via email,” Mr. Shaw said.

Southwest, which was fined $150,000 by the DOT last year for failing to respond to a large
number of complaints due to a computer glitch, has 200 agents handling customer complaints.
It’s an entry-level job for college graduates. Southwest also employs proofreaders, often
English majors.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-art-of-the-airline-apology-1404947542

The Art of the Airline Apology
Carriers Deploy Software, English Majors to Tell Angry Fliers They’re Sorry for Mistakes in Flight

Updated July 9, 2014 7�18 pm ET

By Scott

McCartney

ROB SHEPPERSON

https://quotes.wsj.com/LUV

https://www.wsj.com/news/author/1432

https://www.wsj.com/news/interactive/MIDSEAT0709

United Airlines, which had the highest rate of complaints filed at the DOT among major airlines
the past three years, has a team of about 450 customer-care agents handling general issues and
refunds. Add to that 400 people handing frequent-flier program issues and about 100
answering baggage-related letters and emails.

Delta Air Lines employs 150 people in Atlanta and Minneapolis to email answers to angry—and
complimentary—customers. Many get letter-writing training and are experienced airport
agents used to dealing directly with customers.

Airlines say they try to make responses conversational and personal. They aim to apologize and
acknowledge the problem, providing more information about the particular situation after
research, then offering some compensation as a goodwill gesture, such as some frequent-flier
miles. Letters are signed by an employee, though many use pseudonyms.

Complaints are sorted by complexity and by the
value of the customer—top-tier frequent fliers
and big spenders get priority. A low-level
customer may get 3,000 frequent-flier miles for a
canceled flight, while a high-value customer who
complains is soothed with 10,000 miles.

Agents research incidents to verify and provide
explanations. Complaints also are tracked so airlines can peg frequent complainers trawling for
extra miles or discounts.

Customer feedback is compiled into reports for top executives, and individual letters—
complaint or compliment—do get forwarded to supervisors and employees, airlines say.

American Airlines uses a library of responses built over the years that agents can search and
then customize. That allows for consistency and accuracy in responses. “We’ve gone completely
away from corporate-speak to personally showing empathy,” said John Romantic, American’s
managing director of service recovery.

United said it tries not to go overboard on the apology. “Generally we tell the customer we are
sorry they did not have the experience they expected on United,” spokesman Rahsaan Johnson
said. “We try to be empathetic to the customer but not sound insincere.”

Delta gives its agents freedom to be chatty and personal. That strategy backfired with Margery
Rothenberg, a health-care marketing executive from the New York City area who hit her head
hard on the corner of a row-number sign protruding above her seat on a Delta jet last month.

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https://quotes.wsj.com/DAL

“I saw stars,” she said. A flight attendant brought her ice and told her it happens all the time;
the captain encouraged her to complain to delta.com.

She did, attaching pictures in hopes the airline would realize the signs, with a protruding
corner sticking out above passenger heads, are a hazard.

“Unfortunately, you were hurt by a seat marker. That truly sounds unpleasant, and you should
have a nicer experience on our plane,” a Delta agent wrote. “Although, our flight attendant
offered you ice there was a bump at the place of injury. We’re working hard to clean, modernize,
and maintain our planes.”

Ms. Rothenberg, still with a big bump on her head a week after the incident, wasn’t mollified.
“The sentence construction is awkward and childish, and I felt like it wasn’t really written to
me in a personal way,” she said. The offer of 3,500 Delta SkyMiles “left me feeling very
shortchanged and unappreciated,” she said.

Asked for comment on the response to Ms. Rothenberg, Delta reached out to her again offering
10,000 miles and asked if she needed medical attention. Hers was the first complaint about the
protruding signs, the company said, and the airline would look into the potential hazard
further.

As for the language of the apology, “they are more individually written” than in past years, said
Delta spokesman Russell Cason. Agents get training in language and no longer use form letters.

“We are trying to use a more conversational language and tone,” Mr. Cason said.

Edwin Battistella, an English professor at Southern Oregon University and author of a book on
public apology, says too often apologies say very little, stating the obvious and avoiding
responsibility.

The letter to Ms. Rothenberg “is not so much an apology as an excuse. They’re not really sorry
for anything they did. They’re sorry for the injury,” he said. “It’s an attempt to manage the
situation rather than resolve it.”

Good apologies are direct: They identify what the transgressor did wrong, take responsibility
and either say what will be different in the future or offer some compensation, he said.

It’s hard to imagine an industry with more direct correspondence with angry customers than
airlines. The industry proactively apologizes to customers who suffer long delays or get stuck
after cancellations, instantly sending emails with offers of miles or discounts before passengers
get home and get a chance to complain.

When passengers do write to the airline, the DOT or both, most complaints revolve around
flight problems—delays and cancellations.

http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pcs/click?xai=AKAOjsvmjUImv3DiWU32RwUwQNFH3likmIFieaMK5CJehIuL14k02ag2rYtVVrbm_Cv3kInp5nB9zYUKyolQNZhl_T9dNvTWMDPD5gb5aXLDnTpgherScjgQQc3nAMJaR4-6nF4yaXTacPAChXwseMKifIX1BhM0lbJ6usxxGEqovHeilvTjCHwlp0lLdNXH3pYM-iUmjAexZDZSPGQ3tmwe-jLOZQPSJnzU6ZDxeCkMWKWYI-_xIjkWsh4d00s-VrPpbZcD_pjcYsJSO58xCW1MZPH5M_e8QgXupFJg5A&sai=AMfl-YRb-qGMDcs346LMMjzMoFjgAZ-4LzXenSqqzAgDRW9ZsFBVJeszfGBk9QxAEhfvw64J1noK-E7KMJBJxfUkak_wJ_FxndAgWH46XlXLRkuyUPKua-Bjq40wCPXu0Wuen7uhAg&sig=Cg0ArKJSzDcuYxqS3xo2&adurl=http://wsj.com

A 2009 study by researchers at the University of Nottingham’s School of Economics in the
United Kingdom found that apologies can be more valued by customers than even
compensation.

More than 600 customers of the German eBay site who posted neutral or negative reviews of a
transaction were sent an apology or compensation of under $7 to withdraw their online
evaluation. Nearly 45% of customers who received the apology withdrew the evaluation,
compared with about 21% of those who got compensation.

“Our results suggest that firms apologize so much because apologies do indeed influence
customers’ behavior,” the study concluded.

Write to Scott McCartney at middleseat@wsj.com

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