The Unfortunate Letter Head

It seems that common sense can escape even the largest corporations, as Office Max depicted about a week ago when the company sent a letter addressing the man "Mike Seay, Daughter Killed in Car Crash or current resident." not only offending Seay, but also his grieving wife.

I would say that it is safe to say that Office Max has had quite the blunder. The only problem is it seemed to be one wrong mis-step after another. When Seay called to complain to the company, Office Max proceeded to deny the allegations -- if only Seay hadn't had the letter in his possession, which was all the evidence he needed in order to prove the insensitivities of Office Max.

After Office Max realized the mistake, they backtracked and apologized to Seay. The damage was done. Seay reported that his wife was traumatized by the entire experience, and is demanding an apology from the companies CEO.

From the perspective of a PR student the entire situation could have been preventable if Office Max had created a system of checks to ensure that everything that is delivered to the public is appropriate. Office Max should have taken ownership of the mistake from the beginning of the fiasco rather than shifting the blame to the third party company, and even worse, denying the blunder all together.

For more coverage and commentary on this crisis check out:

http://verdict.justia.com/2014/01/28/officemaxs-deceased-daughter-mail-blunder-limits-privacy-law

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/217676/officemaxs-dead-daughter-gaffe-torpedoes-big-da.html