United Breaks Guitars

In the event “United Breaks Guitars,” David Carroll flew with United Airlines from Nova Scotia to Nebraska when he saw, out of his passenger window, United’s worker carelessly tossing his Taylor guitar into the plane. Upon arrival, Carroll discovered the neck of his guitar had been broken. Carroll attempted to receive reconcile from United Airlines, but after a year of vain attempts, the aspiring country singer, David Carroll, decided to compose a piece about how United broke his guitar in which he posted on Youtube.

Unbeknownst to United, Carroll’s video, “United Breaks Guitars” received over 100,000 views within the first day. The same day United’s stock prices fell 10 percent. By the first year his song generated almost nine million hits. Within days after the release, United contacted Carroll and offered compensation for his beloved guitar. He denied the money and asked them to instead donate the money to a charity of their choice, in which they did.

This story is a perfect example of why public relations is so important. If an institution is not meeting the needs of their customers, then they have broken the mutually beneficial relationship and will quickly lose support. This story also proves how influential one person’s opinion, combined with internet, can be.

In this particular situation I feel like Carroll took the most effective approach at getting the revenge he felt he deserved. After a year of suffering, trying to be compensated for the damage done to his guitar, he felt the only way to change United’s behavior was to publicly humiliate them. Carroll received the outcome he hoped for and some. United offered to compensate him for the damage, and Taylor guitars donated two guitars for Carroll’s second and third video. The aspiring country singer was now famous. He found instant notoriety within 24 hours all because of a broken guitar.

When watching the first “United Breaks Guitars,” the lyrics mention a United representative, Mrs. Irlweg. The music video displayed a lady holding a sign saying “Mrs. Irlweg” and then holding up a sign saying “no.” This singles out Mrs. Irlweg specifically. I do not agree with Carroll choosing to use exact names in his music video.

I think Carroll under estimated the fame the video would receive, and he too realized that spotlighting Mrs. Irlweg was uncalled for. He posted a self-made personal interview on youtube two days after stating that Mrs. Irlweg was in fact a kind person. After watching the video I felt like he had made a genuine mistake in mentioning her name and was trying to make amends. I also appreciated that he informed the public of the steps United was taking to fix the problem. This showed that Carroll was not trying to completely destroy United’s reputation, but was trying to make a point in a big way. I enjoyed how Carroll kept the situation comical throughout the videos and the interview. At the end of the personal interview he said, “One day I hope to have a good laugh with her [Mrs. Irlweg] about all of this,” which I too hope will happen.

I, like everyone else, have been an airline customer and have experienced the frustration of broken luggage, and the near impossibility of receiving compensation. It makes me happy to know that someone finally made a big enough stand to hopefully change their procedures and policies.

I am frustrated at how United chose to respond to their Carroll’s problem at the beginning. If they knew they were to blame for breaking his guitar, that they should put aside policy to compensate him for his losses. I feel this should be the ethics of any company willing to do business; they have to be aware there will be mistakes they will have to account for.

I did however, feel like United handled the problem in the correct manner after the video was publicized. Once Carroll launched the song, United chose to care because Carroll’s situation because it was damaging their image in a way that was immeasurable. United was quick to offer money compensation and then did as Carroll asked and donated the money. I felt like they had good damage control. Carroll had attained so much power over public opinion that if United failed to fulfill his request their image would continue to crumble.

This has fully awakened me to the power of youtube and other sites on the Internet that have changed the dynamic of public relations completely.