5 crisis PR lessons from KitchenAid’s offensive tweet

The brand’s official Twitter account sent an errant tweet during Wednesday’s debate riffing on President Obama’s dead grandmother.

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Shortly after President Obama mentioned his late grandmother, the following tweet appeared on the @KitchenAidUSA Twitter feed:

“Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’. #nbcpolitics”

The tweet was quickly deleted, but not before a swift and fierce backlash against the brand. (At the time, @KitchenAidUSA had about 24,000 followers.)

KitchenAid issued this apology on Twitter:

“Deepest apologies for an irresponsible tweet that is in no way a representation of the brand’s opinion. #nbcpolitics”

Shortly thereafter, the head of the KitchenAid brand, Cynthia Soledad, began tweeting from the account, saying:

“I would like to personally apologize to President @BarackObama, his family and everyone on Twitter for the offensive tweet sent earlier.”

“It was carelessly sent in error by a member of our Twitter team who, needless to say, won’t be tweeting for us anymore.”

“That said, I take full responsibility for my team. Thank you for hearing me out.”

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