Branding under the arc lights

Online furore over Air India, Pepsi, Snapchat calls for an overhaul of rules on customer relations

Is social media turning conscience keeper for brands? It would seem so, given the manner in which celebrities, politicians and brands have faced the ire of a large and outraged army of public defenders. Take the case of Air India (AI), an ill-behaved politician and the airline’s silent support for its employees is all it took for the otherwise maligned brand to trend (favourably) on social media. 

Interestingly AI did nothing; there was no public denouement of the bad behaviour, which is how a strong brand may have reacted. But AI benefited from a strong wind against the boorish politician.