To continue my series reviewing recent PR Disasters that took the cake over the past two years, I’ll be looking at video game company Activision Blizzard, maker of Call Of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush. Activision’s recent PR woes provide a classic case study of how delays in reporting or responding to situations / attempts to cover up misconduct can cause a great deal of damage and make a potential PR crisis worse for a company or organization.
Activision has repeatedly come under fire for its toxic work environment, threats against unionization, and a front-page news report claiming that CEO Bobby Kotick and other execs mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct at the company. A story published in the Wall Street Journal about how Kotick for years, knew about the allegations yet didn’t inform the board of some reports, including alleged rapes, led to over 100 employees staging a walk-out and calling for Kotick’s resignation.
How did the media get this story? News of an ongoing lawsuit was leaked, presumably by employees who’d had enough of the widespread sexual harrassment, ‘frat-boy’ culture, and culture of retribution they faced at the company. According to WSJ, Activision has collected about 700 reports of employee concerns over misconduct and other issues since July 2021, when a California state agency filed a lawsuit against the company over harassment claims that go as far back as 2010.
Activision responded with an internal note to staff that read: “A recently filed lawsuit presented a distorted and untrue picture of our company, including factually inaccurate, old, and out of context stories — some from more than a decade ago.” That was obviously not going to go over well when the complaint was based on the claims of several hundreds of employees so unsurprisingly, more than 1,800 employees signed a letter the next day, calling the company’s response ‘abhorrent’ and ‘insulting.’ About a month later, two top execs were ousted for only giving “a slap on the wrist” to one offender. Fast forwarding to 2022, it’s been recently announced that Microsoft will purchase Activision.
To make matters worse, for months after the WSJ story made waves, Activision remained silent on what actions were being taken to address the crisis; that is, until last month, when WSJ reported that since July 2021, Activision had fired or pushed out more than 35 employees and disciplined about 40 others. But according to the newspaper, CEO Kotick allegedly did not want the company to report those actions because ‘it could make the company’s workplace problems seem bigger than is already known.’ Um newsflash, Kotick: the company’s problems are already big news and will continue to be reported on because the public is already interested and there are going to be a ton of story angles to pursue for a long time.
Here are just a few of Activision’s errors in this situation:
- They did not sincerely and quickly address the allegations of widespread sexual harassment
- They thereby allowed others to write the narrative, leaving them at a disadvantage
- It constantly appeared they needed to be forced by others to divulge information and actions about a situation with heavy repercussions which makes them look like they’re trying to cover up the truth
- They seemed to forget that employees can also become powerful critics and adversaries (the point, btw, is to treat them with value and respect, as opposed to trying to crush or silence them)
When working with clients who’ve had employees accused of misconduct, it’s best to take immediate action by launching a thorough and balanced investigation and communicating with employees about what’s being done to look into very serious allegations. If the allegations are found to be true, delivering a mere slap on the wrist will likely come back to haunt you and your organization; take swift action against the accused. By taking these steps, clients have been able to avoid negative blowback, both internally and externally and genuinely create a better working environment for their employees.
CONTROL, by Fiayo. 