Starbucks Korea ‘Tank Day’ Backlash

Starbucks Korea ‘Tank Day’ Backlash

How does a global brand make a mistake so culturally insensitive that it triggers boycotts, political condemnation, police scrutiny and store closures? In this episode of What Just Happened?, Kate Hartley and Tamara Littleton discuss Starbucks Korea’s ‘Tank Day’ promotion, launched on the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, when tanks were used to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations. They look at what happens when a local marketing campaign ignores historical trauma, and how far can accountability travel when a franchise relationship sits between the incident and global headquarters? The discussion covers the speed and severity of the response, including the firing of Starbucks Korea’s CEO, a reported 26% sales drop in the first week, public boycotts, government criticism and formal apologies from both Shinsegae Group and Starbucks in the US. Kate and Tamara also consider reports around AI-assisted slogan development, weak sign-off processes and the dangers of assuming that a campaign can be judged without historical context. Starbucks Korea made a decision to close around 2,000 stores for mandatory history and social sensitivity training, raising important questions about accountability, trust rebuilding and whether brand recovery requires visible sacrifice. A full transcript of today’s show is available to read here [https://polpeo.com/starbucks-korea-transcript/].

The HMV Live Tweet Meltdown

What happens when employees turn a company’s own communication channels against it? How should organisations handle redundancies in an era where every meeting can be recorded, every internal message can be leaked and every disgruntled employee has a platform? In this episode of What Just Happened?, Kate Hartley and Tamara Littleton revisit the 2013 HMV redundancy crisis, one of the most famous social media crises of the digital age, and examine why its lessons remain just as relevant today. When employees who were being laid off live-tweeted the process from the company’s official Twitter account, what began as a shocking social media incident quickly became a landmark case study in crisis communication, internal culture and employee trust. The discussion traces HMV’s decline from high street giant to administration, before exploring how a failure to remove social media access allowed departing staff to publicly expose the redundancy process. It explores how employee activism has evolved, from rogue tweets and leaked internal communications to anonymous platforms such as Blind, Glassdoor reviews and viral TikTok videos. Leadership coach Jane Fordham joins the discussion to argue that incidents like HMV are fundamentally culture issues rather than technology failures. She explains how organisations can identify declining employee trust, rebuild damaged relationships and manage redundancies with greater transparency, planning and humanity. A full transcript of today’s show is available to read here [https://polpeo.com/hmv-transcript/].

Spygate

Ahead of the recent Championship playoff final, with the winners promoted to the Premier League and also set to benefit to the tune of £200 million, Southampton admitted to spying on Middlesbrough’s training sessions in an attempt to gain a competitive edge. What began as a bizarre story involving an analyst intern hiding behind a tree with a camera quickly escalated into a full-scale reputational disaster, culminating in Southampton being expelled from the playoffs by the EFL. In this episode of What Just Happened?, Kate Hartley and Tamara Littleton unpack the fallout that followed one of the most extraordinary and damaging football PR crises in recent memory. They discuss how the story exploded so rapidly, thanks in large part to the aggressive media strategy employed by Middlesbrough, and why Southampton’s response failed to rebuild trust. They also examine the wider consequences beyond football, including furious fans, potential lawsuits, damage to sponsorships and player earnings, and the long-term impact on the club’s reputation. The episode dives into the communications lessons behind the crisis: why apologising while simultaneously disputing punishment undermines credibility, how culture issues often start at leadership level, and the ethical concerns surrounding the use of a junior analyst in the scandal. This is a look at the consequences of trying to gain an unfair advantage when the stakes are high. A full transcript of today’s show is available to read here [https://polpeo.com/spygate-transcript/].

The Art of the Apology

What makes an apology believable? And what turns an apology into a crisis of its own? In this episode of What Just Happened?, Kate Hartley and Tamara Littleton revisit themes from their conversation with crisis communications expert Abby Mangold, exploring the messy, highly human territory of public apologies, CEO misconduct and organisational redemption. The discussion looks at the difference between a real apology and a non-apology, reflecting on the work of Dr Harriet Lerner and Brené Brown about why people apologise, what they are really trying to repair and why certain phrases often make things worse. A genuine apology, they argue, requires humility, accountability and meaningful action. The episode also addresses how organisations should prepare for senior leaders behaving badly ahead of time and a focus on culture, values, whistleblowing routes and clear processes. And it examines the role of the board when a crisis involves the executive team. A full transcript of today’s show is available to read here [https://polpeo.com/art-of-apology-transcript/].

The CrowdStrike Outage

In July 2024, a faulty software update to cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform caused around 8.5 million Windows devices to crash. The incident disrupted airlines, hospitals, banks, broadcasters and public services, with the UK economy alone estimated to have lost around £2 billion. In this episode of ‘What Just Happened?’, hosts Tamara Littleton and Kate Hartley are joined by managing partner at Clarity Kristin Ingraham to look at the reputational and legal fallout, including Delta Airlines’ $500 million lawsuit, CrowdStrike’s controversial $10 Uber Eats voucher gesture to vendors, and the wider debate about liability, accountability and apology. We discuss how a small flaw in an update created a major operational crisis, forcing affected machines into the “blue screen of death” and requiring many to be fixed manually. We also explore how Microsoft and CrowdStrike responded, contrasting Microsoft’s collaborative and clear messaging with CrowdStrike’s initially corporate and unemotional statement. The episode explores how crisis communication must balance legal caution with humanity, and discusses how legal, communications, IT and leadership teams must build trust before a crisis hits. We debate how much preparedness, empathy and cross-functional collaboration are essential to reputation recovery. A full transcript of today’s show is available to read here [https://polpeo.com/ms-transcript-2/].