When a company finds itself on the receiving end of some adverse publicity, whether it’s to blame or not, it’s vital to react in the right way.

The social media barometer is ready and waiting to pass heavy judgement on those brands that get responses wrong. Humour can be mis-judged, mis-interpreted, or simply not be funny. When jokes are forced, they have all the impact of a geography teacher, ditching the tweed and showing up to lessons in a leather biker’s jacket: fooling nobody and looking daft.

At Podium, we have, today, doffed our collective caps to Vauxhall, which has responded quite magnificently to some rather snidey coverage in (you guessed it) the Daily Mail and the Telegraph. Even the BBC got involved.

The ‘story’ was that the Luton-based car builder was taking a hammering on social media – through no fault of its own – because a bright yellow Corsa, belonging to an elderly gentleman, was apparently ruining a lot of tourists’ photos on a particularly picturesque street in the Cotswolds.

That was it. A small yellow car was so ugly, that it was upsetting some people in walking boots.

 

At this point, Vauxhall has a few choices: ignore it, respond with a statement, or attempt a witty riposte. It went for the latter and, frankly, judged the mood brilliantly.

Sensing that people were siding with the owner of the car and, in turn, sneering at the uppity tourists whose selfies were being ‘ruined’, Vauxhall joined in the fun with this announcement on its website, promoting the sales of a camouflage net for those who have to park their cars in tourist hotspots.

 

We’ve added a picture of the product here (left), courtesy of Vauxhall, though you’ll not be able to see the car so you’ll just have to take our word for it.

It comes across as self-effacing, modest and funny. It shows that, when appropriate, taking a relaxed, confident approach to social media crisis management can absolutely pay dividends.

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