Isn’t it funny how
America embraces a thief, abuser and cheater – but detests a liar.
Case in point – this
week, Corporate America companies Nike, Anheuser-Busch and Radio
Shack told Lance Armstrong to take a flying leap off a bridge by
cancelling their sponsorship endorsement contracts with him based on
allegations – not facts – raised by the United States Anti-Doping
Agency. Earlier this year, SSL Certificate giant Symantec took a huge
hit in consumer trust by replacing their reliable VeriSign Checkmark
with the less than reliable Norton Secured Seal.
In both cases, both
parties could have avoided most trust issues by simply coming out in
the open and admitting mistakes in judgment.
If one thing has been
constant in this country, it’s that American’s are eager to give
a person – or a company a second chance after they made a critical
mistake – as long as they have the humility to admit their wrong
doing. Look at NFL Quarterback Michael Vick for an example of this.
Three years ago, Vick was arrested for animal cruelty by leading an
organized dog-fighting league. And although he initially lost some
endorsement deals, he admitted his faults, served time in jail and
has since come back to be the starting quarterback of the
Philadelphia Eagles.
And for the most part,
corporate America and the fans in Philly cheer him every Sunday
afternoon.
In June of this year, the
USADA formally charged Lance Armstrong with having used performance
enhancing drugs during his seven-time Tour de France domination
between the years of 1999-2005. They also ‘officially’ striped
Lance Armstrong of winning any events in the past. But, why did Lance
Armstrong loose the trust of Corporate America and several of the
general population when athletes like Tiger Woods and Michael Vick
arguably committed worse offenses?
Simple - Lance Armstrong
has too much pride to admit his faults or weakness. And just like
Lance Armstrong, Symantec can’t admit they made a mistake – and
this betrays trust that has a life-long impact on the general public.
When Symantec replaced
the reliable Verisign checkmark with the cheap and not-reliable
Norton Secured Seal, it caused a huge shift in consumer confidence of
all Symantec products. However, since that April 2012 time period,
they still have not officially stated on the record that it was a
mistake. Instead, when some of their largest corporate clients like
retailers Walmart, Best Buy and others demanded that they take the
Norton Seal off their website due to dropping internet sales from
April 2012 – July 2012; Symantec instead tried to spin the news as
these customers “Switching to VeriSign”.
This is a flat out lie.
All of these companies
used the VeriSign software in the past. As a consumer who has
purchased products from them in the past year, I know this to be true
and factual. In April, that reliable checkmark went away – as did
my business with those companies.
It was my perception that
they were cutting back costs by replacing VeriSign with Norton. And
since my perception is reality in my eyes, that betrayed my trust in
those companies for a while. Then I learned that in fact it was
Symantec who made that change. Now I don’t trust them.
Simply put, had both
Lance Armstrong and Symantec come out and admitted mistakes – even
if they believed in their hearts they did not – the general opinion
of people across the country would allow their trust to be shaken;
but not lost. Instead, the trust of Lance Armstrong and Symantec are
both gone for good with many consumers and fans – simply due to
their perception of guilt.
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