Hi!

My group has chosen BreadTalk since it has been one of the top home-grown brands in Singapore. As most of us know, it’s a bakery chain specialising in producing a variety of breads, cakes and pastries. Recently, Breadtalk has come under fire on social media for a string of scandals that has damaged its reputation. First, many netizens were angered when Breadtalk launched the ‘LKY’ buns meant to commemorate the late Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, and they felt that Breadtalk was insensitive and disrespectful. Then a photograph was circulated on Facebook showing Breadtalk selling repackaged Yeo’s soymilk while labelling it as ‘freshly prepared’ on the bottles  Caught red-handed for unethical marketing, many customers felt that their trust was betrayed and many netizens questioned the quality and authenticity of Breadtalk’s other bakery products. Netizens went on to comment on the poor service standards experienced at outlets on social media which fuelled more negative sentiments towards the brand, and this resulted in a severe loss of customer trust in Breadtalk. 

Although Breadtalk has released a statement of apology for the soymilk incident on Facebook, public response was largely negative as many felt Breadtalk did not sincerely admit its labelling and marketing mistake. Instead, Breadtalk claimed it has been clearly labelling the vendor’s brand and product information and instead issued a vague apology for the ‘misaligned presentation’. This led to a backlash where many customers wrote angry comments on social media, but Breadtalk failed to address them all.

So, my group wants to look at how we can effectively manage and respond to such negative customer feedback and generate more positive word-of-mouth and buzz to improve customer attitudes using social media. In the long run, it is also important for Breadtalk to rebuild customer trust is its brand.

Have a good weekend!

Xue Shan