4 Cases of Social Media Crisis in Spain
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2025 8:31 am
The number of corporate crises generated by social media has increased considerably in the last decade, although most can be avoided with proper preparation. The most affected sectors are consumer goods, fashion, restaurants, the Internet, and retail . These are some of the conclusions of the study "Social Business Readiness: How Advanced Companies Prepare Internally," presented by Alimeter at the end of August 2011.
In Spain, several companies have been embroiled in a reputation telegram data crisis on social media over the past 18 months, driven by various reasons, managed in a variety of ways, and with mixed results. Here are four examples:
The boycott of Donettes on Twitter for their slogan “Let’s ask at the metro.”
It all began on September 28, 2011 , when Xavi Calvo posted the following message on Twitter: "What a pain. Gentlemen at @Donettes, trivializing certain things for marketing purposes is regrettable ," accompanied by a photo of a pack of Donettes with the slogan "Let's ask for the subway." The slogan was part of the "Don't touch my Donettes" campaign that Panrico had been running for some time. The @xavicalvo profile had fewer than 2,000 followers, but the message was retweeted so intensely that within hours the hashtag #boicotdonettes became a trending topic in Spain.
Crisis management. Donettes reacted quickly, announcing on its corporate Twitter account on September 29th: "We are studying what has been said regarding a claim found on some of our packs, we will inform you of our decision soon." That same day, and barely 24 hours after the contentious tweet, Donettes communicated via Twitter: "We agree with you and we apologize. We will withdraw the packs as soon as possible ." Throughout that day, Donettes engaged in dialogue and apologizing to Twitter users through more than 80 messages , in addition to contacting Xavi Calvo directly, to the point that Xavi himself congratulated them on Twitter for their willingness.
The keys. Monitoring and active listening were essential to quickly detecting the crisis. From then on, the company's swift action and conciliatory attitude were decisive, turning a crisis into a reputational triumph . Although Donettes' Twitter account isn't particularly relevant or active (just over 500 followers and 1,100 tweets), having this channel enabled them to effectively resolve the boycott.
In Spain, several companies have been embroiled in a reputation telegram data crisis on social media over the past 18 months, driven by various reasons, managed in a variety of ways, and with mixed results. Here are four examples:
The boycott of Donettes on Twitter for their slogan “Let’s ask at the metro.”
It all began on September 28, 2011 , when Xavi Calvo posted the following message on Twitter: "What a pain. Gentlemen at @Donettes, trivializing certain things for marketing purposes is regrettable ," accompanied by a photo of a pack of Donettes with the slogan "Let's ask for the subway." The slogan was part of the "Don't touch my Donettes" campaign that Panrico had been running for some time. The @xavicalvo profile had fewer than 2,000 followers, but the message was retweeted so intensely that within hours the hashtag #boicotdonettes became a trending topic in Spain.
Crisis management. Donettes reacted quickly, announcing on its corporate Twitter account on September 29th: "We are studying what has been said regarding a claim found on some of our packs, we will inform you of our decision soon." That same day, and barely 24 hours after the contentious tweet, Donettes communicated via Twitter: "We agree with you and we apologize. We will withdraw the packs as soon as possible ." Throughout that day, Donettes engaged in dialogue and apologizing to Twitter users through more than 80 messages , in addition to contacting Xavi Calvo directly, to the point that Xavi himself congratulated them on Twitter for their willingness.
The keys. Monitoring and active listening were essential to quickly detecting the crisis. From then on, the company's swift action and conciliatory attitude were decisive, turning a crisis into a reputational triumph . Although Donettes' Twitter account isn't particularly relevant or active (just over 500 followers and 1,100 tweets), having this channel enabled them to effectively resolve the boycott.