5 brand ‘disasters’ that resulted in positive PR

These five brands took what could have been black eyes and turned them into footnotes, at best.

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The “shellshock” recalled other cases in which well-intended updates were greeted with customer revolt. Yet, sometimes, what seems like a PR crisis can have a paradoxical effect. It can rekindle dormant public sentiment and even positive visibility for a brand or product.

When customers voice rejection of a change in formula or packaging, it can awaken nostalgia or make the brand more relevant. Ever since the launch of New Coke in 1985 (arguably the most storied and disastrous, product update in U.S. history) marketers have occasionally tapped deep reserves of consumer loyalty that they may not have even known existed. Here are a few examples.

Tropicana’s packaging loses its juice

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