Navigating a Cancel Crisis

Today, every tweet, screenshot or status update on social media has the potential to cause you, your company or your client to stare down a scary cancellation crisis. 

In recent years, the term “canceled” has come to describe a person or an organization having their reputation and livelihood destroyed because of being publicly condemned for something they said, wrote, did or didn’t do. Urban Dictionary defines “canceled” in this context as “the act of using mob pressure to harass or ‘expose’ someone online for any past or present drama, no matter how insignificant it may be.” 

It’s hard to predict what will spark a cancellation. Sometimes, it results from boneheaded behavior, to be sure. But in other cases, being canceled can result from an honest mistake, or even from misinformation. 

Whatever the cause, being canceled is another crisis that responsible people and organizations should take measures to avoid — and know how to counter if it happens.