What goes up must come down.
Newton gets a lot of credit for this idea, but let’s face it: People were noticing this a long time before he put together a theory about it. And they were noticing it didn’t just apply to physical objects.
Whether it’s the stock market, a person’s mood, or the recent batting averages of a baseball player, the rule applies: What goes up must come down.
When I read a fascinating article Reuters article on the recent brand troubles that Starbucks is experiencing, I found myself repeating the rule in my head.
Starbucks as a brand isn’t failing or dying. It has just been succeeding too spectacularly.
Starbucks gags and jokes were popular for a while. We’ve seen the chain reach ubiquity in a Springfield mall on the Simpsons. We’ve heard comedians crack jokes about how the coffee shop is appearing on every corner. But we laughed, knowing that would never actually happen.
Yet, when Starbucks has to peel back its explosive growth and finally start closing stores instead of opening them, we throw around words like brand crisis and brand avoidance. We herald it as a new trend, when really it’s just the aftermath of an old trend.
Starbucks is a simple example of brand backlash. Its backlash is greater than most, but that’s because its brand is greater than most.
Brand backlash isn’t limited to coffee shops. You can see it in almost any market where brands play an important part.
Take McDonald’s, for instance. It’s the reigning champion of fast food, but also the scapegoat for every problem the industry faces. Supersize Me focuses on McDonald’s. The term Mc Job is based on McDonald’s. Is McDonald’s having a brand crisis? No, it’s just brand backlash, and it’s one of the responsibilities they bear as the biggest and best.
Coca-Cola faces similar issues. When a chain e-mail circulates claiming (incorrectly) that soda saps bone mass, which beverage is given as an example? It’s almost never Pepsi. Even in our financial crisis, we see examples of brand backlash with industries worth of anger being poured onto single companies.
Brand backlash is one of those problems that’s inevitable. It’s a byproduct of success. I’d imagine most PR practitioners loathe having such a problem, even if it does mean they’re doing something right. It forces desperate measures like the ones we’re seeing with Starbucks.
Wendy’s, on the other hand, probably looks at the movie Supersize Me with longing eyes.
