Abstract:
In the beginning of October 2018, a photo with a live frog trapped in a ready-to-eat salad was shared and commented by thousands of Facebook users. Although the supermarket, which sold the salad, submitted an explanation post, the frog remained a central theme of discussion among users in various Facebook groups and individual profiles for a couple of weeks after the incident. The aim of the current study is to explore and analyze the basic stages of a product-harm crisis spread in social media, based on consumers (Facebook users) perceptions and attitudes. More precisely, the paper investigates consumer experiences during four different phases of the above mentioned product-harm crisis by using longitudinal qualitative research (i.e. in-depth interviews). Results revealed that during the first stage (just after the photo of the frog appeared), consumers were angry, searched the Internet and social media for valid information and felt the urge to participate in e-discussions related to the crisis. After a couple of weeks they were no longer interested in reading long discussion on the issue, wrote limited comments, but were still curious to open any link provided by a reliable source. Approximately two and a half months after the initial photo post, Facebook users had almost forgotten the negative incident and most of them felt safer to buy the product (again).