Reputation Changer Responds to National Fast Food Chain PR Fiasco

WEST CHESTER, PA, June 13, 2013

One of the nation's largest fast food chains, Taco Bell, has found its name tarnished by controversy in recent weeks, following a scandalous photograph taken by a franchise employee and posted to the Web. According to the blog at Reputation Changer.com, the Taco Bell scandal reveals several important truths about corporate reputation management in the age of social networking. Reputation Changer has also released a statement to the press, commenting on the Taco Bell incident.

According to an article in USA Today, the controversy surrounding Taco Bell began when a restaurant employee photographed himself licking a stack of empty taco shells. The photo became a viral sensation, resulting in disgust from the restaurant's regular patrons. USA Today rightly notes that the incident has "caused a serious public relations headache for Taco Bell," and that the employee responsible for the disgusting photograph has been fired. The shells in question were to be used for training new employees, and were thrown away as soon as the incident was discovered--but many Taco Bell patrons remain skeptical.

According to Reputation Changer president Michael Zammuto, the Taco Bell controversy reveals several important truths about online reputation management. "It goes without saying, by now, that what your business posts to social media sites can have a major impact on the company's overall image, and even affect its bottom line--whether for good or for ill," remarks Zammuto. "However, it is important to remember that this is not only true of the corporate social media account, but even of the personal social media sites of employees."

Zammuto notes that many companies have run into social media blunders solely on the basis of ill-advised tweets and status updates from employees--and in many cases, the offending remarks or images are far less extreme than the Taco Bell shell photo, but no less damaging. "An employee may simply reveal something that is meant to be proprietary or confidential, or the employee may make a comment that simply does not fit with the brand's identity," he offers. "Even when a mistake is perfectly innocent, the results can be dire."

Zammuto says Taco Bell was right to fire the employee in question, but that the restaurant chain still has much work to do as it seeks to rehabilitate its image.

"The first step is to be proactive in apologizing to the public and making it clear that measures are being taken to ensure this kind of thing does not happen again--which, to its credit, Taco Bell has done," Zammuto offers. "Now, the company needs to change the story. At Reputation Changer, we would recommend getting some press out there that speaks to the chain's products, to its popularity, to its value--and perhaps also to its sanitation! The goal is to suppress the unwanted news story with some more positive buzz."

The Reputation Changer president also recommends that Taco Bell--and all other companies--put social media policies into place. "Obviously, the employees involved with this incident should have known better than to take that silly photo and post it to the Web, but having a more thorough social media policy, outlining what can and cannot be said by employees, is a great step for any business to take," he concludes.

For more information about Reputation Changer, including Reputation Changer job openings, individuals are invited to visit reputationchanger.com.

ABOUT:

Reputation Changer was launched in 2009, and since that time it has become world's leading online reputation management agency. The company was conceived by a group of online marketing pioneers, zealous to protect themselves from online defamation and from unscrupulous reviews. Now, ReputationChanger.com is known throughout the world for providing a peerless suite of reputation monitoring and management services. An innovative tech company with heavy investments in R&D, ReputationChanger.com has been honored for its best-in-class technologies by TopSEOs and by Red Herring. The company's client list includes colleges, universities, Fortune 100 companies, small businesses, politicians, celebrities, athletes, and private citizens.