By Raymond Dimayuga
In the ever-shifting landscape of public outrage and viral scandals, two very different stories gripped our collective attention recently – the Grab masturbation issue and the sampaguita girl vs. security guard debacle. One involved a driver being accused of behaving inappropriately during a ride, while the other was a tale of class disparity playing out in the most public and meme-able of settings. And if there’s one lesson we can take from these sagas, it’s this – corporations should absolutely wait for social media to decide what’s right or wrong before taking action.
Take Grab, for example. Faced with a scandal that could have easily spiraled out of control, the company wisely played the waiting game. Let the hashtags hash it out. Let the think pieces, reaction videos, and moral grandstanding hit peak saturation. Why? Because public opinion online is as fickle as the weather— one moment people are furious, the next they’re sharing TikTok videos of dancing cats. By waiting, Grab ensured their eventual response aligned with whatever the majority decided was the “correct” stance. Genius!
Contrast that with the sampaguita girl versus the security guard — a story that exploded into a moral battlefield. Who was at fault? The girl for selling flowers at an improper place? The guard for doing their job? The internet for being, well, the internet? SM easily issued a statement early on, but the risk – they seemed to pick the “wrong” side. Better to let the issue simmer and wait until public consensus solidifies. After all, nothing screams corporate responsibility like waiting to see which way the wind blows before pretending to care.
The Social Media Cue Card Strategy
Here’s the thing – why should corporations invest in moral compasses when X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Facebook comment sections can do the heavy lifting for them? Let’s face it— no one really wants a proactive brand. What we want are brands that are reactive, timing their apologies and statements perfectly to match the peak of public outrage and then vanishing the moment the outrage dies down.
Imagine SM taking a cue from Grab’s playbook. Someone files a complaint? Delay. Issue noncommittal platitudes. Wait for the public to either move on or gift you the ideal response through the sheer volume of their noise. SM’s PR team could host brainstorming sessions with trending hashtags as their agenda. Will the mob demand justice for the girl or sympathy for the guard? Time is the ultimate judge. The best course of action is no action— until the internet drafts your apology for you.
Why Think When You Can Trend?
What Grab (and SM doesn’t understand in time) understands is that in 2025, public relations isn’t about ethics or accountability— it’s about vibes. You don’t need to be right; you just need to trend correctly. Apologies are no longer admissions of guilt but finely-tuned algorithms designed to hit the sweet spot of public approval.
This strategy works for everyone:
- The company gets to sit back and bask in eventual praise for their “timely” response.
- The public feels empowered, thinking their posts and comments drove change (spoiler: they didn’t).
- The news cycle moves on, leaving everyone involved untouched by long-term consequences.
A Cautionary Tale for the Brave
Of course, there’s always the risk of waiting too long. Social media’s attention span is short, but its memory is eternal. If you miscalculate the timing, you might end up in PR purgatory, where every statement feels either too little, too late, or like an overreach. But hey, that’s the price you pay for corporate cowardice disguised as strategy.
Final Thoughts
If there’s one takeaway from the Grab and SM sagas, it’s this: forget values, forget decisiveness, forget genuine accountability. In the world of corporate PR, the name of the game is waiting for the most trending opinion. So, to all the brands out there – stop wasting time on ethics workshops or crisis simulations. Just log onto your social media accounts, scroll through the trending topics, and let the crowd tell you what to do.
Because in the age of viral outrage, why lead when you can follow?
Eat the Worm is a weekly column that dives headfirst into unconventional ideas, uncomfortable truths, and the gritty realities we often shy away from. Much like the brave tradition of “eating the worm” in a tequila bottle, this column challenges readers to confront the hard stuff with courage and curiosity. This is a fearless exploration of life’s rawest and most compelling topics.