Jessica Alba’s Honest Company took a crisis-response U-turn on Monday night, with the company’s founders empathizing with angry customers.
Alba and Christopher Gavigan wrote a blog post late Monday trying to personally relate to customers by emphasizing, "We are parents, too."
"We develop and use Honest Sunscreen to protect our own children – Honor, Haven, Luke, Evie, and Poppy – at the park, in the pool, outside, every day," they said in the blog post. "As with everything we do, we take sun protection seriously here at Honest."
The post details the review process and third-party testing in accordance with government regulations that goes on behind the scenes before a product is released.
"That said, what matters most to us is your trust and confidence," the founders added. "We’re passionate about living up to your expectations as much as our own."
They also described how they have "personally picked up the phone" to speak with many who have called Honest’s customer service hotline about this issue.
Honest is also reaching out to every person who has blamed the product for sunburns on social media.
"For those who have expressed concerns about our Sunscreen Lotion, we want you to know that we hear you and we’re here for you," the blog said. "As always, we’ll do what it takes to make it right."
Honest also posted a link to the blog on its Twitter and Facebook pages on Monday night.
A message from founders, @JessicaAlba and @Christopher_Gav, on our Honest Sunscreen Lotion: http://t.co/mavk81mRO7 pic.twitter.com/rRHrdIfdbY
PMK-BNC is the AOR for the Honest brand, and it is assisting the company’s internal comms team with the crisis. The company has not brought on additional firms for support, according to a source close to the matter.
The blog post and social media outreach was an about face from earlier Monday, when PR pros scolded the company for belittling customers.
After customers posted pictures of their children’s sunburns on social media and complained that Honest’s products do not work, the company initially said it stood behind its products.
Honest also seemed to brush off unhappy customers by citing the small number of complaints, which it said constituted "[about] less than one half of 1% of all units actually sold at honest.com."