Protect Your Brand Before You Get Sued

In an expose by 20/20 last month, it was discovered that many consumers purchase new tires for their cars, thinking they’re getting what they paid for – new tires – when in actuality, those tires have been sitting on a shelf in a stockroom for nearly a decade or more. 

Over 100 deaths in the U.S. have been attributed to aged tires that car owners had no idea were not new when they bought them.  Despite the deaths, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has not passed regulations related to the shelf life of tires that can become brittle and crack causing what could be an extremely dangerous situation or even death – as 100 families can attest to.  Smells like a lawsuit.

So what does this tell us from a branding perspective?  (I’ll skip over the business ethics related to this issue and simply focus on the branding aspect since this is a branding blog.)  Identify potential risks that could damage your brand reputation.  Those risks could be small or large (such as the potential of death caused by your products).  Don’t ignore them and hope they’ll go away or that no one will notice them.  Eventually, someone will notice.  Face your brand negatives and business risks head on and do whatever it takes to repair the problems.  Your brand will survive and prosper in the long run if you do, but the same cannot be said if you don’t.

What do you think?  By the way, you can follow the link to see the 20/20 piece on aged tires.  Don’t forget to check the dates on your tires (you can learn how in the 20/20 piece).

Image: Flickr