Commentary From Crisis Management Expert Edward Segal, Author Of The Award-Winning Crisis Ahead: 101 Ways to Prepare for and Bounce Back from Disasters, Scandals, and Other Emergencies (Nicholas Brealey)

Some crisis situations happen accidently, while others are accidently prevented. The latter appeared to be the case when, according to news reports, an Amazon Alexa device recommended the site of a lethal viral challenge to an inquisitive 10-year-old child.

According to 9to5Mac.com, "an Alexa device [was] encouraging a ten-year-old to participate in the penny challenge, where you use a penny to touch the prongs of a plug connected to a wall outlet."

Fortunately for all concerned—including Amazon—the child's parent intervened to prevent what could have been a headline-making crisis for the online retailer.

'Pulled From The Web'

9to6Mac.com noted that, "The Alexa device pulled the information about this challenge (which is obviously dangerous, and should not be attempted) from the web, as it often does when asked questions.

"In response to the child's question to "tell me a challenge to do," the Alexa Echo said 'Here's something I found on the web. According to ourcommunitynow.com: The challenge is simple: plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs.'

The New York Post reported that, "Ironically, the article that Alexa generated the suggestion from actually cautions parents against letting their children participate in the asinine pastime."

According to Amazon, Alexa uses Bing as the default search engine for all of her queries and the company asks users to help improve answers, the newspaper said. "Our customers want Alexa to get smarter and more helpful to them every day," the site notes. "To do that, we use your requests to Alexa to train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems using machine learning."

Amazon's Statement About Referral To Viral Challenge

An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement today that, "Customer trust is at the center of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers. As soon as we became aware of this error, we quickly fixed it, and will continue to advance our systems to help prevent similar responses in the future."

Not The First Viral Challenge

The so-called outlet challenge to which the child was directed is certainly not the first dangerous viral challenge and will likely not be the last.

In 2018, Tide had to contend with the pod challenge. As the Washington Post reported at the time, "... videos circulating on social media are showing kids biting into brightly colored liquid laundry detergent packets. Or cooking them in frying pans, then chewing them up before spewing the soap from their mouths."

Uncertain Origins

"It's not certain how the Tide pod fad got started. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning to parents several years ago about the liquid laundry detergent packets. The agency said the capsules—which are colorful, squishy and smell good—are attractive to young children but contain 'highly concentrated, toxic detergent' that can cause harm."

In response to the speeding popularity of the dangerous stunt, David Taylor, the CEO of Procter & Gamble, said in a statement, that, "The possible life altering consequences of this act, seeking internet fame, can derail young people's hopes and dreams and ultimately their health.

"Ensuring the safety of the people who use our products is fundamental to everything we do at P&G. However, even the most stringent standards and protocols, labels and warnings can't prevent intentional abuse fueled by poor judgment and the desire for popularity."

Advice For Business Leaders

Respond Publicly

Allie Martin is the founder and CEO of Fame and Fortune Brand Management, a public relations and social media agency, and teaches social media and public relations courses at Midway University in Midway, Kentucky.  She said that, "Companies that have found themselves involved, whether by choice or involuntarily, in viral social media challenges must respond publicly as soon as possible.

"In many instances, these viral challenges can provide harm to the participants and that can quickly create negative PR for your company. I advise companies to put a statement out on all their social media channels stating that they do not advise consumers to participate in these challenges," Martin said.

Communicate

"Additionally, putting a pop-up on your website and sending an email to your email list is also advisable. In extreme situations, a press release should be distributed if additional comments from leadership can be shared," she counseled.

"Overall, do not make light of the topic, as you want these warnings to be taken seriously. Also, don't assume these challenges will just 'go away.' The timeliness of your statement can be the determining factor in this being a PR nightmare or not," Martin concluded.