The Stroke Association has deleted a series of humorous social media posts and apologised after receiving criticism from its beneficiaries and other users.
On Friday, the charity joined many other social media users in posting about a viral video clip of two people that were embarrassed to be seen hugging at a Coldplay concert.
Several posts, including those by the charity, made jokes about rumours of infidelity between the two people in the clip.
Other social media users criticised the Stroke Association’s original Threads post and its initial reply defending the joke, which led to the charity removing the posts on Saturday.
Today, the charity’s chief executive Juliet Bouverie published a statement apologising for the posts and vowed to ensure a similar mistake would not happen in future.
“Whilst typically we would try to raise awareness of stroke in a way that aligns with the style and tone of the relevant social platform, capitalising on someone else’s misfortune, in a way which also caused offence amongst some stroke survivors, was ill-informed and a huge lapse in judgment, for which we are extremely sorry,” she said.
“This isn’t how we usually speak about stroke – a condition that changes lives in an instant and leaves a deep impact on survivors, families and carers. The post was shortsighted and undermined the severity of the condition which we deeply regret.
“We’re also sorry for how we initially responded to criticism. It didn’t show the empathy or thoughtfulness that our community rightly deserves from us and that we pride ourselves on.
“We removed the post from Threads and are taking action to guarantee this can never happen again, so that we stay true to our values across all social platforms, and ensure our content always reflects the compassion and seriousness this cause deserves.”
Social media for charities ‘fundamentally different’ to private sector
The Stroke Association’s original post included the lines “nothing destroys lives and families quicker than a stroke” followed by “Coldplay has entered the chat”, which some other users felt was in poor taste and downplayed the severity of the condition.
It also responded to a comment that the original post lacked compassion with another post, also now deleted, which said: “We didn’t make anyone have an affair.”
Sector communications consultant Tom Fishenden said the backlash to the posts shows how social media mistakes can have “a far greater impact” for charities compared to corporations.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this one post has turned off some donors from the organisation, and has made some partners question what their relationship looks like moving forward,” he posted on LinkedIn.
Fishenden said it is a “fine balance” for charities wishing to use humour to highlight difficult topics.
“It is so important that in creating content, we don’t call the severity of the work we do into question. This is where I think this post goes wrong,” he said.
“It takes something which is very serious and life-changing for somebody in a medical environment, and compares it to something which is within a separate context entirely.
“Making that comparison calls into question the severity of a stroke and, therefore, naturally upsets people with lived experience.”
He advised that charities remain focused on their core audience when posting.
“If chasing a quick trend is going to upset and alienate them, or damage your relationship with them, it’s never worth the potential exposure,” he said.
“As charities, our public image and our relationship with our donors is our lifeblood. It’s not worth damaging it for passing trends.”
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