Crisis Communication Examples: 12 PR Crises Reviewed
Twelve real, public corporate crises reviewed from linked sources: what was reported, what each response illustrates and what we think worked. We did not work on these cases.
Written & reviewed byAnthony Will, Founder & CEOReputation Resolutions · 13+ year industry veteranUpdated November 2026 · 10 min readKey takeaways
- We reviewed 12 real, public corporate cases using linked sources, and we did not work on any of them.
- Four ended in a reversal of the original decision (Gap, Netflix, Pepsi, Cracker Barrel). In our judgment, testing a decision before announcing it is cheaper than reversing it in public.
- Apologies backed by dated, checkable commitments (Tay, Zoom, Sonos) give people something to hold a company to.
- Regulators judged Equifax, British Airways and Southwest on what was promised and delivered, so statements about security and service need to match practice.
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In this guide
Across these 12 public cases, the responses that held up, in our judgment, shared three traits: they named the problem plainly, owned what the company controlled and said what would happen next. The weaker ones defended first, then reversed within days. Each fact below links to its source, and we did not work on any of these cases.
We have no inside knowledge of these companies, and nothing here is a client result. We limited each entry to facts in a linked public source and marked our own opinion as judgment. If you are facing something similar, a crisis management firm can help you decide what to say and when, but the cases below are useful on their own.
How we chose and reviewed these cases
We included a case only if we could open a reliable source, such as a major outlet, a company statement or an official report, for every fact we state. We left out cases involving deaths, abuse or violence, and cases where litigation is still undecided. Where a source did not say something, we do not say it. Anything marked “our judgment” is opinion, not a measured result, and we did not verify long-term business outcomes for any company.
Domino's
- Year
- 2009
- What the response did
- President apologized on YouTube; new Twitter account
- Our judgment
- Effective, but slower than ideal
Gap
- Year
- 2010
- What the response did
- Withdrew a new logo after about a week
- Our judgment
- Fast reversal after a first defense
Netflix
- Year
- 2011
- What the response did
- Apology, a new plan, then a reversal
- Our judgment
- Apology was undercut by a new surprise
Pepsi
- Year
- 2017
- What the response did
- Defended an ad, then pulled it a day later
- Our judgment
- Quick removal, weak first statement
Microsoft Tay
- Year
- 2016
- What the response did
- Took the chatbot offline and apologized
- Our judgment
- Specific and owned
Zoom
- Year
- 2020
- What the response did
- Apology plus a 90-day plan
- Our judgment
- Checkable commitments
Sonos
- Year
- 2024
- What the response did
- CEO apology with dated roadmap
- Our judgment
- Specific, but late
Cracker Barrel
- Year
- 2025
- What the response did
- Dropped a new logo within a day
- Our judgment
- Fast reversal
KFC UK
- Year
- 2018
- What the response did
- Full-page apology ad
- Our judgment
- Tone matched a low-stakes problem
Southwest
- Year
- 2022
- What the response did
- Settled with the US DOT a year later
- Our judgment
- Service channels were the story
Equifax
- Year
- 2017
- What the response did
- Settled with the FTC in 2019
- Our judgment
- Security claims were tested later
British Airways
- Year
- 2018
- What the response did
- Prompt notice, then a regulator fine
- Our judgment
- Notice helped but did not prevent a fine
Apologies and ownership
1. Domino's, 2009. Time reported that a video made by two employees at a North Carolina store, showing sandwiches being tampered with, was viewed more than a million times within days. The employees said it was a prank and that the food was never delivered. Domino's did not respond at first, hoping attention would fade. By midweek it posted an apology, created the @dpzinfo Twitter account, and its US president apologized on YouTube. Time reported that on April 17 the video was the third Google result for “Domino's” and the apology the fourth. A Nielsen Online strategist said the response could have been quicker. Our judgment: it shows the value of a leader speaking on the channel where the story spread, and the cost of waiting.
2. Microsoft Tay, 2016. In a March 25, 2016 blog post, Microsoft's Peter Lee wrote that a coordinated attack by a subset of people exploited a vulnerability in its Tay chatbot within the first 24 hours, and that Tay tweeted inappropriate words and images. Tay was taken offline. Microsoft apologized, said it took full responsibility for not anticipating the attack and said Tay would return only when it could better anticipate malicious intent. Our judgment: a plain apology, a specific cause and a stated condition for relaunch.
3. Zoom, 2020. In an April 1, 2020 post, CEO Eric Yuan wrote that Zoom had been built mainly for enterprise use and had fallen short of privacy and security expectations, and he apologized. He announced a feature freeze, a 90-day focus on trust, safety and privacy, a third-party review, a transparency report, an enhanced bug bounty program, a CISO council and weekly webinars. Our judgment: dated, checkable commitments give people something to hold the company to. The post does not say whether each was completed, and we did not verify that.
4. Sonos, 2024. MacRumors reported on July 25, 2024 that CEO Patrick Spence apologized on the Sonos website for problems with the app released on May 7. Users had complained about missing features and bugs, including the removal of playlist management and alarms. Sonos promised updates every two weeks and a month-by-month list of fixes through September and October. Our judgment: the dated roadmap is the strong part. The apology arrived about eleven weeks after launch, which is the weak part.
Reversals after backlash
5. Gap, 2010. The Christian Science Monitor reported that Gap put a new logo on its website in October 2010 and defended it on Facebook two days later. About a week after launch, Gap North America president Marka Hansen said Gap would stop using the new logo on its website and return to the blue box, citing comments from customers and the online community. Gap also said it had missed the chance to engage online and would handle any future change differently. Our judgment: the reversal was fast, but the first defense used up the days when a quick answer would have mattered most.
6. Netflix, 2011. Fox News reported that Reed Hastings emailed customers in September 2011, apologized for how Netflix had announced its July price and plan changes, and said members felt the company lacked respect and humility. In the same message he announced the DVD service would be renamed Qwikster. Salon reported that on October 10 Netflix dropped the plan and kept DVDs at netflix.com. Our judgment: an apology paired with a new surprise gave customers less reason to believe it.
7. Pepsi, 2017. Fox Business reported that Pepsi's nearly three-minute ad, in which Kendall Jenner joins a protest and hands a police officer a can of Pepsi, launched on a Tuesday. Pepsi first said the ad reflected people from different walks of life coming together in a spirit of harmony. On Wednesday it pulled the ad, said it had missed the mark, halted further rollout and apologized to Jenner as well. Our judgment: removal within a day limits spread, though the first statement is what the second had to undo.
8. Cracker Barrel, 2025. KVIA reported that the restaurant chain replaced its Uncle Herschel logo with a text-only design, addressed it in a website statement on Monday, August 25, and said on Tuesday, August 26 that the new logo was going away and the “Old Timer” would remain. The company said it had promised to listen and had done so. Our judgment: it matches the Gap pattern of a short defense followed by a rapid reversal.
Operational failures and regulators
9. KFC UK, 2018. Fortune reported that KFC switched its UK chicken deliveries from Bidvest to DHL in February 2018, and hundreds of restaurants closed in the resulting shortage. On February 23 a full-page apology ad rearranged the logo to read “FCK” and called a chicken restaurant without chicken not ideal. It apologized to customers who had traveled to closed stores and said more fresh chicken was arriving daily. Our judgment: the humor worked because nobody was harmed. The same tone would be wrong for a serious incident.
10. Southwest Airlines, 2022. NBC News reported that on December 18, 2023 the US Department of Transportation announced a $140 million civil penalty tied to the 2022 holiday disruption, which stranded or affected about 2 million passengers. DOT cited failures in call center service, flight status notifications and refunds. Southwest said it was pleased to reach the settlement. Our judgment: customers judged the airline on whether they could reach someone and get information, so channels matter as much as the statement.
11. Equifax, 2017. The FTC's July 22, 2019 release said the breach affected about 147 million people. It alleged that Equifax was alerted in March 2017 to a critical vulnerability, ordered patches but did not confirm they were applied, and that its privacy policy claimed reasonable safeguards. Equifax agreed to a settlement of at least $575 million. These are the FTC's allegations in a settled case. Our judgment: public claims about security are tested later against what was actually done.
12. British Airways, 2018. Hunton Andrews Kurth reported that the UK Information Commissioner's Office fined British Airways £20 million on October 16, 2020 over a 2018 breach affecting about 430,000 people, down from a £183.39 million proposed fine in July 2019. BA notified the ICO on September 6, 2018, after a third party alerted it, and the ICO credited its prompt notification and cooperation. City AM reported BA saying it alerted customers as soon as it became aware and apologizing for falling short of expectations. Our judgment: prompt notice counted as mitigation but did not prevent a fine.
What the 12 cases have in common
This is our reading of twelve cases, not a study, and twelve is not a sample. Four ended in a reversal of the original decision: Gap, Netflix, Pepsi and Cracker Barrel. Three paired an apology with dated, checkable commitments: Tay, Zoom and Sonos. Three were judged by regulators on what had been promised and delivered: Equifax, British Airways and Southwest.
For your own preparation, write your first lines before you need them. Our holding statement examples give a free template and eight hypothetical samples, and our guide to crisis communication strategy covers how to decide what to say and when. For what comes after the first day, read how to recover from a PR crisis. We did not verify how any of these stories appeared in search afterward, apart from the Domino's detail above.
Frequently asked questions
What are some good examples of crisis communication?+
In our judgment, Microsoft's 2016 Tay post, Zoom's April 2020 apology and KFC UK's 2018 apology ad are clear examples. Each named the problem, took ownership and said what came next. Our judgment is opinion, not a measured result.
What is a PR crisis?+
A public event that threatens an organization's reputation, such as a viral video, a failed product launch, a data breach or an operational failure. The twelve cases above include each of those types.
What is the most common mistake in these cases?+
In our reading, defending a decision and then reversing it. Gap, Pepsi and Cracker Barrel reversed a decision within about a week, and Netflix dropped its Qwikster plan within about three weeks. Gap and Pepsi had first defended theirs. This is twelve cases, not a study.
How are social media crises different?+
They spread faster and in public. The Christian Science Monitor reported more than 1,000 negative comments on Gap's Facebook page and a Twitter account created to criticize its new logo. Time reported Domino's video spread partly through Twitter.
Did these companies recover?+
We did not verify long-term outcomes, so we do not say. Our sources report what was said and done, with dates, not later business results.
Were any of these cases yours?+
No. We did not work on any of them and have no inside knowledge. Everything here comes from the linked public sources.
How did you choose the cases?+
We included a case only if we could open a reliable source for every fact we state, and we left out cases involving deaths, abuse, violence or undecided litigation.
Should you apologize quickly in a crisis?+
Say what you know, what you are doing and when you will update, and have counsel review any wording that admits fault. Our judgment from these cases is that early, specific, owned statements fared better than late or defensive ones. We are not a law firm.
Sources & references
- Time: Domino's YouTube Crisis, 5 Ways to Fight Back (April 2009)
- The Christian Science Monitor: New Gap logo withdrawn (October 2010)
- Fox News: Netflix CEO apologizes, renames DVD division Qwikster (September 2011)
- Salon: Netflix cancels Qwikster (October 2011)
- Fox Business: Pepsi apologizes, pulls Kendall Jenner protest ad (April 2017)
- Microsoft: Learning from Tay's introduction (March 2016)
- Zoom: A Message to Our Users (April 2020)
- MacRumors: Sonos apologizes for app redesign (July 2024)
- KVIA: Cracker Barrel says it will go back to old logo (August 2025)
- Fortune: KFC chicken shortage apology (February 2018)
- NBC News: Southwest fined $140 million over 2022 holiday disruptions (December 2023)
- FTC: Equifax to pay $575 million in settlement (July 2019)
- Hunton Andrews Kurth: ICO fines British Airways 20 million pounds (October 2020)
- City AM: ICO fines British Airways 20m for data breach (October 2020)
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