Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

What does Baso A Fung in Indonesia and Bud Light in the US have in common?

Both are brands caught in the middle of a polarised world where pleasing one side pisses off the other.

Let’s start with Bud Light. On April 1 Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on a beer promotion. This was nothing really new for Bud Light as it had carried out marketing campaigns supportive of LGBTQ+ in the past.

The American right protested and called for a boycott which gained momentum. Today Bud Light has lost so much market share that it has been replaced as America’s best selling beer by Michelob, a Mexican beer.

Fast forward the Bali. Baso A Fung was minding its own business as usual when Instagram influencer Jovi Adhiguna walked into its Bali International Airport outlet and ordered a bowl of baso. He also brought with him a packet of pork crackling that he bought from elsewhere.

He ate his baso with the pork crackling and, as celebrgrams will, posted a video of himself enjoying the meal.

That, predictably began courted an outrage on social media as he was eating something haram (nothing more haram. than pork products) in a restaurant chain that positions itself as halal, to cater for its mostly Muslim customers throughout Indonesia.

Amid the controversy, Jovi apologised for offending Muslims. Baso A Fung also apologised, destroyed all its crockery at the outlet to protect its halal certification and posted videos of the destruction.

Baso A Fung’s move was received plaudits from many Muslims and the. Its spokesperson went on record to say that, thankfully, the incident did not result in its halal certification being revoked.

The story did not end happily every after there though. Offended by what they see as a slight to the Hindu community in Bali by Baso A Fung’s destruction of its crockery, Balinese DPD member Arya Wedakarna asked airport authorities not to renew Baso A Fung’s lease at the airport.

What went wrong for Baso A Fung? Although some PR pundits had hailed it as one of the best crisis responses ever, what the company did was a bit unusual by crisis management best practices.

Granted, it found itself in a tricky spot after Jovi’s Instagram post went viral. This situation, however, is what some crisis managers call a “sniper scenario”. It describes a crisis-like situation that is caused by someone else rather than the brand.

So in this case the crisis-like situation – someone breaking out the pork crackling in the food outlet was caused by Jovi, not Baso A Fung. In such a situation it is best not to take too high a profile in trying to solve a problem you did not create.

Baso A Fung should have worked with a with a credible Muslim authority on the best way of sanitising its crockery . One of its options is resort to, samak, a process of purifying contaminated items that is acceptable to many Muslims. Then it should just release a statement, not a video, of how it regretted the incident, the steps it took to ensure that the crockery was purified for Muslims and its commitment to ensuring that all its food is prepared according to halal certification standards.

What it did that got it in trouble with the Hindu right was its video of the destruction its crockery. Videos provoke visceral responses and from the conversation on social media suggests that its detractors view the video as too much melodrama to appease and to show off how much it was doing.

Baso A Fung’s statements to the media were also self-serving ands focussed on how it was thankful that its certification was not revoked. It would be better if the statement focussed on how it tries to ensure high standards of service and food for all its customers.

To be fair, however, Baso A Fung – like Bud Light in the US — faced a difficult situation. In societies polarised by culture and ideology doing right by one group may mean offending the other.

What steps can companies or brands take to prepare themselves from being in such situations where you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t?

Three things. Values, skills and preparation.

Values are moral compases for brands in times of trouble or crisis-like situations. Without them companies are at a los of what to do in the confusion. Companies should have their values (and purpose too) clearly articulated and activated throughout their organisation for a start.

Next they need to acquire crisis communication skills. While it is natural for Baso A Fung to breathe a sigh of relief because it shall certification was not revoked, it was not the right thing to say. The same problem plagued Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch. Its CEO responded to the outburst against the brand by saying that the conversation (over the controversy arising from Bud Light’s partnership with Mulvaney) was not where the brand wanted to to be. The statement was roundly criticised for being self-centred and tone deaf to its customers.

The third element is preparation. If I operate a halal restaurant chain if would have my SOP, holding statements and train my people in talking to the media right away. After all, there is no stopping another influencer or celebgram from walking into your outlet with haram food products. Not to prepare for this possibility would be professional negligence.

Brands today live in dangerous times precisely because society has become so polarised. It is likely to get more so and brands should gird themselves for what’s to come.