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Hello, and welcome to this month’s Reputation Digest from Fire on the Hill, where we deliver a rundown of the latest stories making waves in the communications sector. This month, BrewDog can’t pay the bills, McDonald’s CEO struggles with the product and Chappel Roan gets called out on social media.
BrewDog ends up on the chopping block
BrewDog has struggled with bad press for a while now. Once known as a disruptive start-up dedicated to small-brew beer and irreverent humor, the drinks brand now has a global presence – but this rapid growth has come at significant cost.
In 2021, a group of employees published an open letter calling out BrewDog’s toxic work culture, which included claims that the founder, James Watt, had engaged in inappropriate behavior towards female staff. It also outlined numerous legal violations by the procurement and marketing teams.
In 2024, the brand saw further backlash after dropping its commitment to pay all employees the living wage. This move garnered negative attention both because it left employees worse-off amid a cost-of-living crisis, but also because it showed a lack of authenticity. For a brand that prided itself on its ethical ‘underdog’ image and supposed moral values to walk back on a longstanding commitment was seen as a betrayal for consumers and employees alike. And this was not the only controversy that year – The Guardian also reported that BrewDog fired an employee for raising concerns around an EDL group drinking in the bar.
All of these issues have had a significant impact on the bottom line, which brings us to the latest story in the news this month. On March 6th, it was announced that BrewDog had gone into administration, with 38 pubs closed and 484 staff made redundant.
BrewDog’s success was built – quite literally – on the backs of their loyal following. Over 12 years, in a series of EFP fundraisers, about 200,000 individuals invested a total of over £100 million in the firm. They will all walk away with nothing.
Building a brand around disruption stops working if you forget your roots when you make it big. BrewDog’s focus on profit over people, from toxic workplace allegations to abandoning commitments like paying a living wage, felt like a betrayal of the very values that had attracted the public in the first place
Big reaction to McDonald’s Big Arch
McDonald’s has been in the headlines this month, though not for anything particularly dramatic. Instead, it’s a short clip of CEO Chris Kempczinski eating a burger that’s ended up getting attention.
The video was part of a standard product push. McDonald’s is rolling out the Big Arch burger, essentially a larger, more premium version of the Big Mac, and Kempczinski was filmed trying it and reacting positively. It’s the kind of executive endorsement companies use all the time to raise hype for a new launch. However, in this case, the way Kempczinski ate the burger resulted in a wave of mockery online.
Commenters on the video were quick to call out the absurdity of the CEO’s manner and choice of wording. One wrote: “Man’s aura screams kale salad.” Another commented saying “It scares me when you call the food ‘product.’”
And the social media buzz failed to lead to an increase in sales. The Big Arch only generated a 2.2% traffic boost during the week of its launch, from March 2 to March 8.
Business leaders are increasingly placing themselves in front of the camera to appear more relatable to younger generations. This isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last time that this strategy hasn’t played out quite as planned.
Bad press for Chappell Roan
A brief hotel interaction in São Paulo this month resulted in an 11-year-old in tears, a misidentified bodyguard, and a flurry of statements attempting to untangle who was responsible.
The controversy started when former Chelsea and Arsenal player Jorginho claimed that Chappell Roan’s bodyguard spoke aggressively to his wife and daughter after they walked past the star having breakfast at their hotel.
Once it hit social media, the story blew up. The discussion quickly shifted from this specific incident to general commentary about Chappell Roan’s behavior. And because Roan has been quite vocal about setting boundaries with fans, the story quickly spiraled out of control. People started to take sides, with some believing that this was all an elaborate PR campaign to discredit the pop star, while others labelled her as rude and entitled.
Then, in the latest twist, the bodyguard in question took to social media to explain his side of the story – revealing that he wasn’t actually part of Roan’s team and had been acting independently. Roan herself also responded, expressing her sadness but claiming that she had no knowledge of the incident at the time.
What does this show? How quickly a narrative can dominate digital spaces, even without concrete facts to back it up. When the public makes up its mind, whether about a company, brand, or public figure, it’s easy for misinformation to spread and cause significant reputational damage.
