Lululemon Athletica is a high-end fitness apparel company with many devoted followers. Visit any college campus and you are bound to find at least a dozen girls sporting their ever-so-popular yoga pants (I admittedly have four pairs of those “bad boys” myself). Their typography style “A” logo is one that is known amongst devoted yogis and students alike. Thanks to the clothing’s comfortable and stylish reputation, the company has grown tremendously in the past few years.
Because of Lululemon’s high-profile status and popularity, the amount of PR crises associated with their company is shocking. Some were handled appropriately while others could have been dealt with in a more professional manner but either way, it seems like the company’s public relations team needs to develop a crisis communication plan to be more prepared.
In addition to a murder that occurred in one of Lululemon’s Maryland stores and a scandal involving false advertisement of a nourishing seaweed product supposedly placed in their clothing, the company attracted the most media attention from the recall of their “Luon” workout pants. Lululemon issued this recall last year after a manufacturing issue left customers with pants that were revealingly sheer.
Because of Lululemon’s high-profile status and popularity, the amount of PR crises associated with their company is shocking. Some were handled appropriately while others could have been dealt with in a more professional manner but either way, it seems like the company’s public relations team needs to develop a crisis communication plan to be more prepared.
In addition to a murder that occurred in one of Lululemon’s Maryland stores and a scandal involving false advertisement of a nourishing seaweed product supposedly placed in their clothing, the company attracted the most media attention from the recall of their “Luon” workout pants. Lululemon issued this recall last year after a manufacturing issue left customers with pants that were revealingly sheer.
In the beginning, I believe that Lululemon intended to handle this PR crisis in an appropriate way. They informed the media in a timely manner by releasing a series of news releases in order to avoid miscommunication. They also issued a “Frequently asked questions” section on their website to satisfy the public’s curiosity. The company’s CEO was available to reporters and willing to answer questions during planned media events. They even poked fun at themselves by posting “We want to be transparent with you” on the window of their flagship store in Vancouver, which included mannequins wearing see through pants.
Things took a wrong turn when word out that Lululemon was making their customers bend over to see if the pants were in fact see through enough to qualify for a refund. Obviously, this caused a huge backlash, which only made the initial problem worse. To avoid this dilemma, they should have provided full refunds to everyone with faulty pants. Not only would this have strengthened their customers trust in the store and brand, but also would have shown that they were taking full responsibility for their mistake.
If this blunder wasn’t bad enough, Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon, stated in an interview that the reason for the mishap was because “some women’s bodies don’t work” for their apparel. “It’s really about the rubbing through the things, how much pressure there is over a period of time, how much they use it,” Wilson said. This was a huge gaffe because it place the blame on the customers and was considered “fat shaming”. After, more negative media attention, he issued an apology, which turned into yet another PR disaster for the athletic wear corporation.
His apology wasn’t sincere, and was directed towards the company’s employees rather than the public, which is another example of how Lululemon failed to acknowledge their fault in the situation.
While the company has lost millions of dollars as a result of these events, I think that Lululemon’s established reputation is what sustained them through these hard times and made the crises a thing of the past. Hopefully, Lululemon’s communication team will learn from its mistakes and use this experience to deal with future mishaps.
Things took a wrong turn when word out that Lululemon was making their customers bend over to see if the pants were in fact see through enough to qualify for a refund. Obviously, this caused a huge backlash, which only made the initial problem worse. To avoid this dilemma, they should have provided full refunds to everyone with faulty pants. Not only would this have strengthened their customers trust in the store and brand, but also would have shown that they were taking full responsibility for their mistake.
If this blunder wasn’t bad enough, Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon, stated in an interview that the reason for the mishap was because “some women’s bodies don’t work” for their apparel. “It’s really about the rubbing through the things, how much pressure there is over a period of time, how much they use it,” Wilson said. This was a huge gaffe because it place the blame on the customers and was considered “fat shaming”. After, more negative media attention, he issued an apology, which turned into yet another PR disaster for the athletic wear corporation.
His apology wasn’t sincere, and was directed towards the company’s employees rather than the public, which is another example of how Lululemon failed to acknowledge their fault in the situation.
While the company has lost millions of dollars as a result of these events, I think that Lululemon’s established reputation is what sustained them through these hard times and made the crises a thing of the past. Hopefully, Lululemon’s communication team will learn from its mistakes and use this experience to deal with future mishaps.