Last week there was a tragic accident at a Slim Jim factory and three people died.
When receiving an email from a friend with the subject “Slim Jim Factory Explodes, Kills Three, Requires HazMat Team”, I however seriously thought it was part of an ad campaign.
Why would my twisted mind make that kind of a leap? Well, I’ve had the pleasure to work with the folks at Slim Jim many years ago. And that headline is (almost) on-brand for them. Remove the “Kills Three”, and it’s 100% on brand.
My team’s mission at that time was to create something that would scare parents. We needed to figure out what the role of this new Internet thing was in enabling the irreverent and rebellious attributes of the brand.
It was probably one of the funnest accounts I’ve had in my career. We discussed creating computer viruses and inviting hackers to hack the Slim Jim site.
In full admission that their product wasn’t exactly nutritious and gave you gas, they ran TV spots with the Slim Jim guy - a rude and rowdy anthropomorphic spicy beef stick that beat up and tortured all the other residents of your belly. They started their own Slim Jim style Lollapolooza tour called Rebeliache that had a sexy nurse covered in vomit for a promotional poster.
Few things were off limits for this brand.
With headlines like “Gas Leak to Blame For Slim Jim Plant Blast” cropping up last week, you can image how Slim Jim would be challenged to respond. As a brand Slim Jim isn’t really equipped to handle this type of communication.
So, the decision was made that for an undetermined time SlimJim.com would be taken down. The URL is being redirected to a page in parent company ConAgra’s corporate site with a message to the victim’s families and the media. They’ve also posted a link for those wishing to contribute to a fund to assist the families.
I’m no PR expert on crisis management, but I feel like this short-term response was the right route to go.
Would posting a Slim Jim branded message be damaging for the brand? Certainly not with their target market of teen boys. If anything it would almost add to the cool-factor with this group, it could spawn a viral buzz of jokes, all disturbingly in line with the Slim Jim brand.
And I think the folks at ConAgra and Slim Jim made the right call by not crossing that line.