Rushabh Shah
BA 2196 Section 26/Professor Allmond
Writing Assignment: Crisis Communication

In April 2009, a video surfaced on YouTube of two Domino’s employees shoving cheese up their nose, among other atrocious things, while making the food (Clifford). Domino’s fired both employees, but subsequently faced a crisis as the video reached over a million views in less than 48 hours (Clifford). This crisis would become the first major crisis to occur through social media. Domino’s effectively managed its crisis in the following ways:
A. Patrick Doyle, its president, apologized by communicating through multiple channels such as a video and a Twitter account, which showed that Domino’s cared and was working hard to fix this situation.
B. Its spokesperson, Tim McIntyre, established a scapegoat, by accusing the employees responsible for the incident, which showed the public that Domino’s was not responsible for its employees’ actions.
C. Domino’s made public health, food safety, and recruitment processes its top priorities, which showed that it is taking steps in making sure this scandal does not recur. Patrick Doyle, its president, apologized by communicating through multiple forms of media such as a video and a Twitter account which showed that Domino’s cared and was working hard to fix this situation. Consequently, customers were able to relate the incident that was going on to a face, instead of a huge pizza chain. Patrick Doyle making this video showed that Domino’s really cared about the situation. Within the first fifteen seconds of the video, Patrick Doyle says, “We sincerely apologize for this incident” (Doyle 2009). Later in the video, he explains exactly what Domino’s next steps are to fix the situation as well as to make sure it does not happen again. He explains, “We are reexamining all of our hiring practices to make sure that people like this don’t