Even our most beloved brands are not immune to the occasional offensive gesture. We have all witnessed an otherwise admirable CEO haphazardly Tweet an unflattering remark or a clothing company let a racially-insensitive comment slip through the cracks and land on the shelves. We are especially familiar with these scenarios in our crisis communications practice, which is why our agency’s president, Michael Fineman, lent his expert commentary on some of retail’s most notable PR nightmares to CNBC:

“What we understand is that those kinds of branding efforts can backfire in the long term if the brand violently alienates markets to which they may want to expand in later years.”

Click here to read “Retailers’ Biggest Blunders”

Photo: Dirima | Getty Images