For more than 17 hours on Taco Bell’s official Facebook fan page there is a photo which you can see below:
Apparently, someone took a photo of an employee licking tacos and posted it online. Last status update from Taco Bell on Facebook was yesterday morning and since then no updates were posted, nor statements were issued. Could this lead to a huge PR crisis?
Well, this isn’t the first time that some “bad” photos were posted online. I am positively sure you can recall some of them. But, can you associate crisis with a brand, or restaurant? Do you remember whose employee was the guy that urinated all over the kitchen? Or maybe who was spitting on which hamburgers? That’s right, it’s hard to connect brand with those scandals.
Just like someone commented on that particular photo: the employee will probably be fired, Taco Bell will release statement of apology and – tomorrow will everything be forgotten because of some other internet meme, or scandal, or whatever else.
So, is Taco Bell remaining silent by purpose? We’ll see about that. There is, for sure, that internet saying “Do not feed the trolls!”, which is totally opposite of what one is being learned in PR classrooms. But, than again – this is web PR, the rules have changed. Or are they?
What is your opinion about this? Should Taco Bell (and every other brand with similar issues) ignore photos like this, or should they responsibly and right in time?