Goal

In this assignment you will submit 300 words or more in order to demonstrate your learning of the following module objectives:

Explain strategies for enhancing intercultural effectiveness and communication across cultures.

Instructions

Once a gaffe blows up on social media, it is difficult to contain. Consider the worst, most embarrassing intercultural mistake or bigotry incident, and then imagine it amplified a thousand-fold or millionfold for everyone to see. What follows is a list of diversity and inclusion blunders as well as awkward social media slip-ups with intercultural implications.

Consider the gravity of each offense below, and the lesson to be learned from it:

In a case of awful timing, WW, formerly Weight Watchers, released a New Years campaign #ThisIsMyWW on Twitter just as the United States launched a targeted drone strike that killed Irans top general, Qasem Soleimani in Iraq, causing international consternation. Thus, WWs promoted trend campaign clashed with the unfortunate trending hashtag WWIII (for World War III). The company immediately pulled its campaign and Twitter helped by removing the promoted trend within one hour of its launch. Even so, more than 870,000 people would belabor the topic over the course of three days on Twitter alone.

Papa Johns pizza company forced out its founder and CEO, John Schnatter after he had used a racial slur and made other racially tinged comments during a conference call with executives and the companys advertising agency. Predictably, his remarks made it onto social media, and Papa Johns sales dropped 10.5 percent in the following weeks.

Two African American men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks, the victims of apparent racial bias. The two men were waiting for an associate and asked to use the restroom without making a purchase. The situation escalated, and the police were called. Social media blew up with negative tweets. Starbucks brand perception among customers plummeted to its lowest in ten years. Starbucks closed 8,000 U.S. stores for sensitivity training.

Answer the following questions:

What is the fundamental problem between each of these cases?

How would intercultural communication have helped each of these businesses?

As a customer, how would you have reacted to these situations?

What is your biggest takeaway? and if you were PR for one of these companies; what would've been the first thing you'd do to de-escalate and begin damage control?