08/29/2026
Social feeds were flooded with tributes to Dolly Parton since the news of her death was shared. One fan posted about Dollywood's ticket prices.
Hersheypark's account replied: "Our summer tickets are $49.99."
The internet did not go easy, prompting Hersheypark to issue an apology saying that it was a mix-up, a reply meant for someone else that landed in the wrong thread. Mmmm...okay, maybe so.
When something like this happens, most companies ask, "what was the employee thinking?"
That's the wrong question. The better one is: Did we ever train this person to think about how they represent our brand in the first place?
Here's the real lesson: We've seen so many PR crises start from the actions of well-intended (albeit way off-base) employees who chased a trend, tried to be funny, or tried to insert the brand into a moment that wasn't theirs to be part of.
They weren't trying to cause damage. They were trying to be relevant. If you stop to think about it, it's actually easy to imagine how an untrained employee might think they were doing a smart thing by jumping on a trending topic, in this case, a headline-grabbing story.
This is why we built PR Shield. Because promotion without protection is just exposure.
