I guess I’m giving a lot of attention to the luxury fitness club Equinox this week. If you read my last post, I used the club to analyze its CSR. Today, though, I’m going to pick on it a bit… and bring up something that it may not be as proud of.
In August of last year, Equinox had a bit of a crisis. Okay, that’s a lie. It was a huge crisis. Equinox’s chairman, Stephen Ross, was found to be planning a fundraiser to support President Trump. With the precarious political state of the country since Trump’s election, this was not a smart move. Showing support for a political party will have detrimental effects on any company at this time, and Equinox was no exception.
When someone high up within a company shares their views, they are making it look like the whole company shares those same beliefs. We have seen the influence that founders can have on a company time and time again, even if their personal choices don’t necessarily reflect the values of the company. When Lance Armstrong was revealed to be doping, the nonprofit that he founded struggled, even though the other executives (most likely) had nothing to do with drug abuse.
People reacted as if the entire company had declared its support of Trump, which a PR professional would expect. People were furious. Multiple news outlets were covering the story. Celebrities like Chrissy Teigen and Sophia Bush publicly shared that they would be cancelling their memberships. Other gyms pounced on the opportunity to gain new members — and not nicely. A local competitor, New York Sports Club, responded to Equinox’s slogan “Commit to something,” with a clever post on Instagram that read “Commit to something better.”
While there are no solid numbers to determine how many members the luxury club lost, I think it’s safe to say that there was a significant amount. Here was Equinox’s response:
The people who commented below this tweet were not convinced. To say that Mr. Ross, the chairman and one of the owners, is a “passive investor” made people even more angry, even if it is true.
SoulCycle, a branch of Equinox’s, also responded:
The two responses are nearly the same. Again, the replies to this tweet were not positive. So, what did Equinox do to further defend themselves and their promise to inclusivity and diversity? A few days later, they committed to donating $1 million towards a few different charities. One of those was House Lives Matter, which supports the LGBTQ community. The choice to donate towards that particular charity was strategic and certainly not a random decision.
The rundown here? This is a great example of a PR crisis. Equinox’s PR team was probably scrambling to respond and shut down the situation before too many rumors were spread. This is also a great example of how fast word gets out, especially when it comes to politics. And, finally, an example of how hard it can be to fix a crisis like this.
People will remember this about Equinox for a long time — just like they will always remember Lance Armstrong.
Be Well 