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The PR Problems of Pandemic Profiteering

The PR Problems of Pandemic Profiteering

Adjusting your marketing to focus on providing products or services that will assist consumers during a time of crisis is a critical, yet delicate, strategy to surviving hard times. When done with proper timing and tact, it can result in both generous profits as well as positive brand association in the eyes of the public. With so many people staying at home, Comcast is now offering unlimited data to customers and free access to Wi-Fi hotspots to the public, while car rental services like Enterprise and Hertz are reducing the minimum age to rent their vehicles as a way to help college students displaced by school closures. By identifying customers’ needs and devising methods that are both understanding and appropriate, companies can endear themselves to society and be remembered well once the crisis has passed.

However, those that seek to use such unfortunate situations for their own personal benefit, especially those who do so inconsiderately, will find themselves facing public backlash and, in some cases, severe legal consequences.

Perhaps the most notorious recent example is Matt Colvin, an unscrupulous entrepreneur who bought over 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer from stores across two states and attempted to resell the products at inflated prices on Amazon. After news of his plans went viral, Colvin found his listings removed and account suspended, a flurry of intense harassment aimed at himself and his family, and the local attorney general’s office launching an investigation into his price gouging.

With his get-rich-quick scheme having taken such a turn on him, Colvin expressed his apologies and worked with the attorney general’s office to donate his stockpile to churches and first responders.

Colvin is far from the only entrepreneur trying to profit off the pandemic, other individuals and entities have been reported inflating the prices of hand sanitizers and disinfecting wipes, but at least these groups were selling genuine products. Amazon has reportedly removed over a million predatory listings from their platform, many of which were peddling illegitimate remedies such as colloidal silver or fake home testing kits. Unfortunately, some scammers are getting creative, employing such tactics as taking the claims of treating coronavirus out of the titles and descriptions of their listings and instead putting such text in the product images, thereby avoiding Amazon’s detection.

That being said, Amazon is already facing its own share of backlash around how it’s been operating amid the crisis, as have many other large retailers.

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Major corporations like Walmart, McDonald’s, and other businesses that provide essential services are putting their employees at severe risk to keep their stores open and shelves stocked, yet are offering little to no paid sick leave or PTO, despite requiring these same employees to work overtime due to increased demand. Since many of these employees are part-time and can hardly afford to lose their jobs during such difficult times, some workers are hesitant to call out, even if they are sick. Indeed, Amazon has already had two protests due to accusations of the company putting their workers in danger by hiding information regarding the number of infected employees.

Granted, Amazon does offer two weeks paid leave for workers diagnosed with coronavirus, but simply getting tested has proven surprisingly expensive. Part time employees aren’t provided medical benefits through their work, but even people who have health insurance are reporting being billed over a thousand dollars for what they thought were free or covered tests. News of such high prices could potentially discourage others from getting tested themselves, perhaps even driving particularly desperate people to seek out the illegitimate remedies Amazon is trying so hard to take down, preventing people from getting the treatment they need and allowing the virus to spread all the more.

While no one retailer can be responsible for the entire pandemic, the actions that businesses take during these times does increase the risk of transmission, and their role in doing so can impact their presence in the market, like what happened with Gamestop and Hobby Lobby.

The videogame retailer had initially resisted orders to close by claiming it was an essential business, but in truth it wanted to capitalize on the release of a popular game when so many of its competitors were shutting their doors. Reports of executives ordering store managers to defy law enforcement and wrap their hands in plastic bags to remain safe from infection were not well received on social media, and several locations ended up being shut down after all. Likewise, Hobby Lobby was in hot water after they too insisted on being an essential service, especially after their billionaire president sent a message to all employees that they would need to “tighten their belts.” When public outcry against the craft store built up, the company complied with orders to close their stores, while also furloughing the majority of their employees, removing what paid time off these people had in the process. Hobby Lobby’s use of religious expression as a way to deny their employees certain healthcare benefits had already caused some controversy before, but this recent development has only seemed to increase people’s ire regarding the brand.

Speaking of ire, workers and workplaces alike are quite upset with how their governments are handling the situation. People trying to claim unemployment are being met with hour long hold times and crashing websites, while businesses applying for government loans are facing technical difficulties and misinformed banks. The government is hard at work on bailouts for airline and cruise line industries, but many are wary of these companies using the stimulus money for stock buybacks and to provide bonuses to executives while the remaining employees are left with nothing, much like what happened with the banks in the 2008 recession. Officials claim they are working to prevent such greedy practices from happening again, yet it’s been revealed that several Senators who’d learned of the coronavirus ahead of time went ahead and dumped stocks before the market was affected, with some investing in companies they were expecting to thrive during the pandemic. This kind of insider trading from the elected officials tasked with caring for the country is particularly upsetting to voters, and the betrayal of trust could very well affect those officials’ reelections.

Those politicians may be able to regain some of the trust they lost with the debt forgiveness programs being put into place, such as the ones preventing utility companies from turning off the water and power to those unable to pay their bills. Indeed, with so many people out of work and stuck at home, their sources of income are shrinking while their energy bills are growing higher. Some cities and states have implemented deferment plans that allow people to continue to receive services and simply pay missed bills later in the year, but that postpones the problem instead of solving it. When people are finally able to go back to work, if they even have a job to go back to, they’ll find themselves stuck with a hefty debt. More work is needed if these programs are going to accomplish anything other than delaying the inevitable, and whoever finds a way to make the situation more ideal will gain considerable favor.

Everyone suffers in a crisis, but some suffer far more than others. Finding ways to alleviate that suffering, even if only a little, is an effective means of enriching the community and generating positive association. The problem will eventually pass, it won’t necessarily pass quickly or painlessly, but it will pass. If you want to be profitable after the issue is over, find ways to be productive while the problem is taking place.

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