Chanel under scrutiny for Bethenny Frankel viral social posts—what brands can learn

After “Real Housewife” and Skinnygirl Cocktails Founder Bethenny Frankel made headlines for being turned away from a Chanel store in Chicago last week, marketing experts watched to see how a large luxury brand would handle a major content creator sharing her negative experience online. Also read: Bethenny Frankel on the Chanel controversy and more So far, Chanel hasn’t done much of anything, despite the incident gaining attention from Frankel’s 3.4 million Instagram followers and beyond. While the brand’s refusal to comment might not affect its sales, the situation still illustrates how brands can be immediately put under the microscope as a result of influencer content. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bethenny Frankel (@bethennyfrankel) Frankel first posted about the incident on May 22, informing her Instagram followers that she had attempted to enter the Chicago Chanel store in a “sweaty” outfit when she didn’t look “dolled up” or “wealthy,” and was denied entry. Frankel’s caption referred to her Chanel experience as rude, “elitist and exclusionary.” The video has more than 190,000 likes and 20,000 comments as of this writing. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bethenny Frankel (@bethennyfrankel) The next day, Frankel posted a second video of herself returning to the Chanel store donning dressier, more expensive-looking clothing, including a tweed skirt suit, a pearl headband and heels. This time, she was granted entry. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Since then, Frankel has continued creating content inspired by the scene in the 1990 movie “Pretty Woman” in which Julia Roberts’ character is asked to leave a store due to her appearance. Later, Roberts’ character returns to the same store in more upscale clothing, holding shopping bags from other stores, and delivers the iconic line, “Big mistake, huge,” to the salespeople who turned her away. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bethenny Frankel (@bethennyfrankel) The comments from Frankel’s millions of followers on her Instagram videos range from “Chanel can’t deny this. They need to address the situation” to users pointing out that this happens to people of color frequently at designer stores. Chanel and Frankel have not responded to Ad Age’s requests for comment, but plenty of marketing and social media experts are offering opinions on how Chanel should handle the incident and what might be at stake for the brand. “The most amazing response would be something funny that pokes fun at what went down, apologizes to her, and shows that they don’t take themselves so seriously,” said Danielle Wiley, founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency Sway Group, before clarifying that she doesn’t think this will happen. While influencer marketing experts don’t expect Frankel’s content to hurt Chanel’s sales in any significant way, experts stressed the importance of brands having a plan when called out by influencers and creators. That’s because these situations “are only going to become more commonplace,” said Brendan Gahan, CEO and co-founder of LinkedIn influencer marketing agency Creator Authority. Also read: LinkedIn becomes a hot spot for influencer marketing Gahan argued that Chanel may “actually benefit” from the “exclusive” perception that Frankel “seems to be reinforcing.” But he stressed that developing a response strategy to address (or not address) influencer controversies is important to avoid long-term negative implications. “Social media is the city that never sleeps and brands need to have plans in place to deal with creators (good and bad),” Gahan said. “Today, everyone is a creator.” As of 2023, one in five social media users considered themselves content creators, according to research from Mintel. As a result, brands are now always “one unhappy customer away from controversy,” Gahan said, making creating great customer experiences critical “both offline and online.” “A brand may have an incredible social strategy, but if they can’t deliver in the real world that can have negative repercussions,” he said. In an ideal world, brands should treat every customer like they’re an influencer with millions of followers, Wiley said. But that’s not realistic, in her experience. “The reality is that it is very difficult to hire these days, and expecting every employee to be able to interact in this way feels unreasonable. When we work on campaigns that require influencers to visit locations, we always work closely with the brand to make sure that the staff at those locations is prepped to treat the influencers appropriately,” Wiley said. But “not every location is able to accommodate that level of treatment,” she added, emphasizing that this is for paid programs where the location staff knows ahead of time that an influencer is coming in. The Frankel videos are a good reminder that any brand interacting with the general public is at risk of being called out online. “If your employees and policies are potentially offensive, think about how they will be perceived if they are publicized,” Wiley said.

Chanel under scrutiny for Bethenny Frankel viral social posts—what brands can learn

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