"By now, everyone has heard about the Astronomer CEO and head of HR whose alleged extramarital affair became not only public, but a viral social media event. When the couple were caught on a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert, an awkward moment collapsed into a PR crisis for the company. A lot has been written about the expectations of leaders, the always-on cameras in our pockets, and the ability of non-employees to determine the fate of organizations."
"Instead, they flipped the script-using the same influence of the public to re-establish the trust that had been broken. Gwyneth Paltrow (ex-wife of Coldplay's Chris Martin) released a statement as Astronomer's temporary official spokesperson. In a video on the company's official X channel, she gives a tongue-in-cheek sober response: "We are thrilled with all the new-found interest in data workflow automation.""
"The video on X has been seen (at the time of this writing) more than 37 million times. It was risky, but also a bit revolutionary. After all, there are two instances of one lesson here. With the advent of social media, companies no longer control the narrative. From customer reviews on Amazon to highly-paid influencers, it is the non-employee who establishes brand quality, customer expectations and corporate values."
An alleged extramarital affair between Astronomer's CEO and head of HR became a viral social media event after a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert, triggering a PR crisis. Both executives resigned and the company chose to respond publicly rather than remain silent. Gwyneth Paltrow served as a temporary official spokesperson and posted a tongue-in-cheek video on the company's X channel, generating over 37 million views. The company leveraged public influence to rebuild trust. The episode demonstrates that social media shifts narrative control to non-employees, forces constant corporate accountability, and requires swift, follower-focused crisis response.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]