A lot of people are expressing anger and dissapointment over the recent crisis at Toyota. It reminds me that a good apology can enhance reputations and relationships – that a good apology can be a defining moment for a company.

Unless you’re a Vulcan, bad mistakes effect everyone on a personal level inside a company. Good people are always ashamed of acting badly in the first place. But its important to get beyond this hindrance so we are not ashamed of making the apology. Remember:

1. Express regret but don’t stop there. Explain how the incident has effected us emotionally and why the damage done matters to us as people who are working at the company.
2. Say sorry about the right thing. Focus on the damage done by the incident, not on the incident itself.
3. Act quickly. Any delays make it look like we’re hiding things.
4. Act with complete openness. Apology can be a cathartic experience, so make it into one. Since we’ve all made mistakes, the audience will all know when you are truly sorry about what happened. So dig in, find all the reasons and share the ones that matter most.

Adpulp reported:

Jim Edwards at BNET reports that Saatchi & Saatchi worldwide chairman Bob Seelert thinks Toyota should stop advertising until it gets its house in order, but the company says it will ignore its agency’s advice and continue to advertise. “Such a public disconnect on strategy between a senior agency official and a global client is extremely unusual,” Edwards writes. Because the brand is known for reliable and durable cars , Seelert says customers will forgive Toyota, especially as it has been a leader in hybrid technology.

Further surfing:
+ Our post on HSBC boss apologising for banking crisis
+ Guardian: Accelerating toward crisis

Not every civil or socially-minded brand has to raise potentially sensitive topics for society through their narrative. Many brands, like Orange and Miller Beer can promote universally popular ideas like optimism and friendship in their brand narratives without getting into potentially sensitive or uncomfortable subject areas.

But for those brands that decide to take up the mantle of raising important and sometimes difficult topics for discussion through their brands, humour can be an effective way to create dialogue without the danger of alienating the audience.

Toyota Prius questioning our real reasons for going green. Are we going green because it’s right or because it allows us to be righteous.

Björn Borg highlighting the despotic behaviour of warmongering leaders of all varieties. See previous post

Samsung illuminating what goes on inside the warmonger’s mind. See previous post

Volkswagen discussing how the greed of bankers created immense suffering around the world. See previous post

Absolut Vodka illustrating conflict and violence at political riots. See previous post

Frank uses macabre wit to talk about the dangers of drugs.

But why is humour such an effective means to remove the barbs from the topics that society feels sensitive about? Well, compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, humans are complex, our world view is complex and the societies we create are extremely complex. The social issues we create and try to overcome in the name of progress, are systemic and usually have a long history of their own.

The reason humour works at all is that it creates an unexpected picture of reality that we are surprised by. Sometimes, these pictures are simple, like puns and sometimes they are more complex, like irony. This flexibility to deal with simple and complex ideas to form a surprising and delightful effect makes humour an ideal device for dealing with awkward, complex societal issues.

Also, humour has the ability to reduce a complex problem down to a simple idea and change our expectations with delightful effect. In this way, humour gives us the ability to reflect on an issue without getting engaged with its complexity. By taking a non-serious view on a serious topic, we afford ourselves the opportunity to see new ideas around the issue and take in information differently in order to make newly-informed decisions about the ideas surrounding the problem.

Finally, humour is reflective in purpose and action. It is like a fun-house mirror that distorts our image. But just like these mirrors, humour can emphasise an aspect of what we believe is true or false. It enables us to step out of our ingrained views and suspend reality for a moment. Humour helps us gain perspective by looking at life through a distorted lens and helping us reflect on what is or is not true in our personal reality.

Humour’s reflectivity makes it an ideal tool for addressing tough topics and creating more civil brands. This ability lowers the barrier for many brands to have otherwise impossible conversations with society.

We at Civil Branding believe harmony is a fundamental human need and appreciate it when brands look to use this ‘freedom from conflict’ story in their brand narrative. It’s a complex and difficult story to tell, made more difficult by the need for authenticity when communicating a value that is all encompassing.

There is an older harmony ad found on You-Tube but it builds on a more functional narrative of being in sync with nature and the environment. We like this new ad since it plays on a wider notion of harmony to take in society while still addressing rational motives about the environment.