What do the best PR crisis examples teach?
The most useful PR crisis examples share a pattern: the organizations that recovered acted quickly, put the people affected first, said clearly what they knew and what they did not, and then changed something real. The ones that struggled usually defended themselves first and apologized later, or let silence fill the gap. Below are six well-documented public cases, what each company did, and the practical lesson behind it.
Every case here is based on published reporting or official records, cited in the text. We describe what happened and what was said in public; we do not add new claims about anyone involved.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Media Removal is not a law firm. If a crisis involves potential legal liability, speak to a licensed attorney where you operate.
What counts as a PR crisis?
A PR crisis is an event that threatens trust in a person or an organization faster than the normal business can absorb it. It can start with a product failure, a video of an employee, a data breach, a careless comment or a supplier problem. What makes it a crisis is speed and visibility: people are searching, sharing and forming opinions before you have all the facts.
Today that also means search results. The articles, threads and videos published in the first days often rank for your name for years. That is why crisis response is not only about the statement you issue, but also about what people will find when they look you up afterward. Our guide to crisis management covers the full discipline; this page focuses on real examples.
Johnson & Johnson and Tylenol (1982): putting public safety first
In late September 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Tylenol capsules that had been laced with cyanide. The product had been tampered with after it reached store shelves, and the person responsible was never identified. On October 5, 1982, Johnson & Johnson recalled about 31 million bottles nationwide, with a retail value of roughly $100 million, according to Retail Brew. The Christian Science Monitor notes that the company also stopped production and paused advertising.
Executives appeared on national television, including ABC’s Nightline, to reassure the public. On November 11, 1982, the company unveiled triple-sealed, tamper-resistant packaging. Retail Brew reports that Tylenol’s market share dropped from 37% to 7% during the crisis and climbed back to 30% about a year later. The episode helped make tamper-evident seals standard on mass-produced packaging.
Lesson: when the risk is to people, protect them first, even at a high short-term cost. The company was not the cause of the tampering, yet it acted as the party responsible for the solution.
United Airlines Flight 3411 (2017): the cost of a defensive first response
On April 9, 2017, a passenger was forcibly removed from a United Express flight from Chicago to Louisville so that crew members could take seats, and he was injured. United’s chief executive, Oscar Munoz, later called the incident a “system failure” and said his own first response had been “insensitive beyond belief,” as NBC Bay Area reported.
On April 27, 2017, United published an internal review with concrete changes: it raised the maximum compensation for passengers who give up their seats to $10,000, said it would reduce overbooking, committed to annual refresher training for gate agents, and confirmed it would no longer call police to remove passengers from overbooked flights.
Lesson: the first statement sets the story. When the chief executive later has to call his own first response insensitive, the organization is already playing catch-up. Specific, verifiable changes gave the apology something concrete to stand on.
Starbucks in Philadelphia (2018): a visible, costly commitment
In April 2018, a store manager at a Philadelphia Starbucks called police about two Black men who, according to a witness, were sitting in the store waiting for a friend. Police said the men had not bought anything and would not leave. They were arrested, held for several hours and released. Starbucks did not press charges, and the arrest drew national attention. CEO Kevin Johnson met the two men privately and apologized, according to NBC News.
Starbucks then announced it would close more than 8,000 U.S. stores, as well as its corporate offices, on the afternoon of May 29, 2018, so that nearly 175,000 employees could take part in racial-bias training. Johnson described the closure as one step rather than a complete answer.
Lesson: when a crisis touches values, a gesture that costs the company something real is more credible than a statement alone. Framing it as a first step, not the end of the story, also sets honest expectations.
KFC’s UK chicken shortage (2018): owning the problem with the right tone
In February 2018, KFC closed hundreds of its roughly 900 UK restaurants after problems with its new delivery partner, DHL, left stores without chicken. On February 23, 2018, the company ran full-page ads in the Metro and The Sun showing an empty bucket with its letters rearranged to read “FCK,” along with an apology to customers who had traveled to find their local restaurant closed, as CNBC reported.
Lesson: tone has to fit the stakes. A self-deprecating approach fit here because nobody was hurt and the ad apologized directly to the customers who had been let down. The same humor would be a serious mistake in a crisis involving injury, discrimination or loss of personal data.
Equifax data breach (2017): when trust depends on what you did before
In 2017, a data breach at Equifax exposed personal information of approximately 147 million people, including names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the company had been alerted in March 2017 to a critical vulnerability, did not follow up to make sure it was fixed, and only found the unpatched database in July 2017. In July 2019, Equifax agreed to a settlement with the FTC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and 50 U.S. states and territories of at least $575 million and potentially up to $700 million.
Lesson: some crises cannot be talked away, because the questions are about what the organization did before the crisis became public. Communication still matters, but the response has to include remediation for the people affected and a credible account of what changed.
CrowdStrike’s global IT outage (2024): speed and technical transparency
On July 19, 2024, a faulty configuration update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon software caused Windows systems around the world to crash. Microsoft estimated that about 8.5 million Windows devices were affected, in a post on its official blog. CrowdStrike said the update was released at 04:09 UTC and remediated at 05:27 UTC that day, stated plainly that the issue was not the result of a cyberattack, and published technical details the following day while it carried out a root cause analysis.
Lesson: in a technical crisis, rule out the scariest explanation early if the facts allow it, explain what happened in specific terms and tell people exactly where to find current guidance. Uncertainty is easier to manage when there is one trusted, updated source.
Common patterns in crisis management examples
Across these cases, a few patterns repeat:
- Speed matters, but accuracy matters more. A fast statement that later needs correcting can do more damage than a short holding statement that promises an update.
- Lead with the people affected. Johnson & Johnson and Starbucks led with the people harmed; United’s chief executive later called his own first response insensitive.
- Back words with changes. Policy changes, recalls, training and remediation gave each apology something to stand on.
- Match the tone to the harm. Humor can work for an inconvenience. It does not work for injury or exposed data.
- Have one source of truth. A single page or channel with updates reduces rumors and conflicting coverage.
A written crisis communication plan and a broader crisis management plan are how organizations make these patterns repeatable instead of improvised.
How to apply these lessons to your own crisis
Most crises are smaller than the ones above, but the steps are the same:
- Assess the facts and the harm. Who is affected, what is confirmed and what is still unknown?
- Issue a short holding statement. Acknowledge the situation, say what you are doing and when you will update.
- Document everything. Save screenshots, URLs and dates of posts, articles and comments before they change.
- Separate criticism from false statements. Fair criticism is answered with action. Statements that are false and damaging may justify a legal or platform route; our guides on defamation laws and reporting defamation on social media explain the options.
- Make a concrete change and say so. Explain what is different now, in specific terms.
- Watch search results and social channels. Track what ranks for your name in the weeks after the event, not only on the first day.
For a step-by-step list you can keep on hand, see our crisis response checklist. If the crisis started online, our guide to social media crisis management covers the platform side, and how to choose a crisis management firm helps if you need outside support.
How Media Removal can help
A good statement does not change what ranks for your name. Months after a crisis, the first page of results is often the part that keeps costing clients, partners and job offers. That is the part we work on.
Our reputation crisis management team responds the same day. After the initial assessment we give you a clear scope and a plan in writing. Where content breaks a platform’s rules or the law, we pursue content removal at the source through direct outreach to the publisher, platform-specific reporting or legal requests. When removal is not possible, we work to push negative results down in your branded search and build accurate, authoritative pages through online reputation management.
We cannot promise that a platform, search engine or court will remove anything. Those decisions belong to them, and Media Removal does not give legal advice. Every client signs an NDA, and so do we. To talk through your situation, request a quote and we answer within one business day.
Frequently asked questions
What is an example of a good PR crisis response?
The 1982 Tylenol recall is the most cited example. After seven deaths linked to tampered capsules in the Chicago area, Johnson & Johnson recalled about 31 million bottles nationwide and brought the product back in tamper-resistant packaging. It put public safety ahead of short-term cost, and Tylenol regained most of its lost market share within about a year.
What is an example of a bad PR crisis response?
United Airlines Flight 3411 in 2017 is often used as a cautionary example. A passenger was forcibly removed from an overbooked flight and injured. The CEO later called his own first response "insensitive beyond belief" and the airline announced concrete policy changes, but by then the first reaction had already shaped the coverage.
What are the first steps in managing a PR crisis?
Confirm the facts, identify who is affected, issue a short holding statement that acknowledges the situation and says when you will update, and document all coverage and posts. Then decide on concrete actions and communicate them clearly. A prepared crisis communication plan makes these steps much faster.
How long does a PR crisis last online?
The news cycle may move on in days or weeks, but articles, videos and threads published during a crisis can keep ranking for a name or brand for years. That is why recovery usually includes monitoring and improving search results, not only issuing statements.
Can negative news coverage from a crisis be removed?
Sometimes. Content that is false, defamatory or that breaks a platform’s rules may be removed through publisher outreach, platform reporting or legal channels, but accurate reporting is usually protected. When removal is not possible, the realistic option is to push negative results down and publish accurate, authoritative content. No provider can promise that a platform or court will agree to remove something.
Sources
- Retail Brew: How the Tylenol murders of 1982 ushered in tamper-resistant packaging
- The Christian Science Monitor: Top 5 most important product recalls in US history (Tylenol)
- NBC Bay Area: United Airlines internal review of removed passenger incident
- NBC News: Starbucks will temporarily close 8,000 U.S. stores for racial-bias education
- CNBC: KFC issues tongue-in-cheek apology after UK chicken shortage
- Federal Trade Commission: Equifax to pay $575 million as part of settlement related to 2017 data breach
- CrowdStrike: Technical details on the Falcon update for Windows hosts
- Microsoft: Helping our customers through the CrowdStrike outage
Facing a crisis right now?
Tell us what is happening. We review each case and recommend the fastest route to contain the damage online.