Companies responses to scandal backlash caused by social media influencers

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify companies’ responses to scandal spillover stemming from their association with tainted social media influencers. Drawing on the literature on scandal, we show how the relationship between a social media influencer and a given brand is conducive to scandal spillover, triggered by the social media influencer’s deviance or wrongdoing. We conducted an explorative case study of the Operation Varsity Blues Scandal involving social media influencer Oliva Jade Gianulli, whose parents were both accused of bribing officials to have their daughters accepted into prestigious U.S. colleges. We collected secondary data from the internet on how 12 companies linked to Olivia Jade responded to the scandal backlash. Our article identifies four possible responses to scandal spillover resulting from association with a tainted social media influencer: proactive dissociation, reactive dissociation, mimetic dissociation, and the absence of response.