Blog Entry 3: A Lesson From Pronto Pups: Stop Posting Rants on Social Media

When I think of a company crisis that originated on social media, Pronto Pups come to mind. For some background, Pronto Pups are similar to corn dogs, but use pancake batter versus corn meal. Pronto Pups are sold at a summer food stand in Grand Haven, Michigan and serve as a pillar to the town’s success.

However, the popular food stand took a beating last year after the co-owner of Pronto Pups, Carl Nelson, ranted against the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement on the company’s Facebook page. According to Mlive, the post “denounced the Black Lives Matter movement, expressed support for the Michigan militia, compared journalists to Adolf Hitler” and criticized the indoor mask mandate. The post was deleted a few hours later with a follow-up from Nelson claiming the rant was supposed to be for his personal page. However by this time it was too late, the post had already been shared by thousands.

Now I love Pronto Pups, but after this event, it’s hard for me to support a business that is so irresponsible and ignorant. For starters, if someone manages multiple social media accounts, double checking you’re on the correct one before posting should be a simple task. Second, the fact Nelson was going to post this wildly inappropriate rant on his personal page is absurd. He is the face of Pronto Pups, and although posting on his personal page wouldn’t have caused as immediate of an out roar, the post still would have spread and hindered his business. Third, I couldn’t disagree more with the content of Nelson’s rant. My beliefs are worth more than a 99 cent corn dog- so I will no longer be buying.

Now Pronto Pups aren’t exclusive to Grand Haven, there are various other stands around Michigan and the United States with no affiliation to each other. So, it makes sense that after this controversy arose, other Pronto Pup stands wanted to clarify this dissociation. The original Pronto Pup stand in Oregon did this over a post on Facebook on July 14, 2020.

My advice for avoiding situations like this in the future is to simply stop posting rants on social media. Regardless of if it’s on your personal or business account, these posts will end up getting traced back to you or your company. Even if you delete it minutes later, chances are someone has already archived it.