United Breaks Guitars: The Saga … In Video

Canadian musician Dave Carroll posted his viral-revenge video on YouTube on July 5, some eight months after United Airlines baggage handlers damaged his guitar and the airline refused to compensate him for his loss. Dave’s musical tribute to corporate idiocy went viral almost immediately, logging 1 million hits in about 36 hours. It quickly became a media phenomenon as well as a public relations disaster for United. Here’s the timeline:

• 7/5/2009: Song 1 of the planned “United Breaks Guitars” trilogy is posted to YouTube.
• 7/7/2009: CNN picks up the story.
• 7/8/2009: CBC picks up the story and interviews Dave.
• 7/9/2009: Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars responds to Dave’s plight.
• 7/9/2009: Dave Carroll updates followers concerning United’s response, and provides some detail about Song #2 of the trilogy.
• 8/18/2009: Song 2 of the trilogy is released.

As of the date of this post, “United Breaks Guitars” had surpassed 3.5 million hits on YouTube and is still climbing.

My take on this is a little off-beat: I’d like to see or hear something from United that sounds like genuine remorse. Clearly, any momentary advantage from the viral event belongs to Dave Carroll and Taylor Guitars, who were both quick to capitalize. But the present and future cost to United’s brand and reputation have to be huge, and yet there is no out-front United face to say “we screwed up; we’re sorry.” There is just the mysterious “Ms. Irlweg” and the United PR flack who proclaimed that the video had “struck a chord with us.” How cynically lame is that?

Where’s the leadership voice of Glenn Tilton on this? The SVP of Airport Operations? We realize that you probably don’t want to lower yourselves to the level of a coach passenger and his damaged guitar, but have you realized yet that when it’s on the web, it’s not going to go away, ever? And what does 3.5 million hits on YouTube (not to mention worldwide media coverage) say about the public’s pent-up feelings about United Airlines?