2024 saw some big crises for brands. Here is our pick of the biggest:
Boeing’s bad year
It was a(nother) bad year for Boeing. A 737 Max 9 lost a door plug mid-flight, whistleblowers have been speaking out about defects in plane parts, and NASA astronauts were stuck in space on the international space station after thruster problems on Boeing’s Starliner capsule (they were due to be brought home by Boeing competitor SpaceX, but that had problems, too).
That’s not all. In October, a communications satellite designed and built by Boeing unexpectedly broke up in orbit, affecting people in Europe, Africa and parts of Asia-Pacific. November saw the end to a seven-week strike by workers (who managed to secure a 38% pay rise), but the combination of multiple crises and the strike saw Boeing announce plans to raise $19bn from share sales and lay off around 17,000 jobs.
And to top it all, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge in the US, for defrauding the Federal Aviation Authority. It was accused back in 2021 of misleading regulators about a flight-control system that was implicated in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, and agreed to a three-year plan to strengthen its safety processes, in order to avoid prosecution. But in 2024, the US Department of Justice found it had violated that deal.
The result? The lowest production year for Boeing since the pandemic. It has promised to improve its culture and restore trust. How it does that is yet to be seen.
CrowdStrike’s global IT shutdown
In July, security vendor CrowdStrike rolled out an update with an error in it, causing a “blue screen of death”/ boot-loop for its clients. Globally, various retailers, airlines, health services, financial organisations and media providers experienced problems such as booking issues and payments being declined.
Delta, which suffered days of problems, went on to sue CrowdStrike, which turned into the two organisations blaming each other.
The crash happened on a Friday morning, and many IT professionals had to work late nights and over the weekend to get their organisations up and running. Some organisations were harder hit than others as they didn’t have the IT support in place to manage such a widespread problem.
CrowdStrike made the problem worse by offering a $10 UberEats voucher to say sorry. There was inevitably a backlash on social media, which mainstream media reported, prolonging the fallout.
Arup’s deepfake problem
British engineering company, Arup, was the victim of a deepfake scam when one of its employees in Hong Kong was fooled into transferring $25m in a series of payments to scammers impersonating the CFO (and other employees) on a video call. The employee had questioned the payments, but made them when the (deepfaked) CFO approved them on a video call.
This is new territory for deepfake scammers – and one to watch in 2025.
Investigating past abuses: Harrods and Abercrombie
The BBC released details of its investigations into horrific allegations against ex-Harrods owner, Mohamed Al Fayed and ex-Abercrombie CEO, Mike Jeffries.
More than 400 people have come forward to speak out about allegations of sexual misconduct against Al Fayed, and police are investigating several people who may have enabled the alleged abuse.
The BBC also investigated ex-Abercrombie CEO, Mike Jeffries, who is alleged to have trafficked vulnerable men and used force, fraud and coercion to engage in violent and exploitive sexual acts. The BBC spoke to 12 men who attended parties where his personal staff were “dressed in A&F uniforms”.
Both brands have made strong statements against abuse and have launched investigations into the claims.
What can we learn from these?
- It’s behaviour, not communication, that creates a crisis. And it’s behaviour that will solve it. That includes facing up to mistakes, addressing past actions, and putting yourself in the shoes of the person affected. What do they need to get through the crisis? (Answer: not a $10 Uber Eats voucher)
- Create a culture of psychological and physical safety. Encourage teams to report abuse, harassment or anything that makes them feel uncomfortable or suspicious. Take fast action to stop it – even if it’s coming from the top
- Be prepared for a new wave of crises enabled by AI. Deepfakes, disinformation and misinformation should be on everyone’s radar in 2025
- Put your money where your mouth is. If you’re being asked to improve your safety record (Boeing), do it.
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