“Too Fat to Fly” Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines Part One (Warning: case contains explicit language) Too Fat to Fly: Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines - Part 1 Page 2 1. Overview On February 13, 2010, writer and director Kevin Smith hopped an earlier Southwest flight from Oakland to Burbank, California sacrificing the comfort of two seats he purchased originally, to get home a couple hours earlier (Schwalback and Smith, 2010). What started off as a simple compromise, ended in humiliation for the admittedly overweight director, when he was ejected from the flight in accordance with Southwest’s Customer of Size policy (McNeill, 2010). Smith, a regular social media user, quickly took to twittering his experience to his reported 1.6 million followers, blasting Southwest for both its policy and poor handling of the situation in a series of posts over a few hours (Schwalback and Smith, 2010). What, according to Southwest, was the result of a few staffers trying to accommodate both passengers and policy (McNeill, 2010; Rutherford, 2010), erupted into one of the most talked about social media controversies of the year. 2. The Cast of Characters 2.1 Kevin Smith A writer, director and producer, 40-year old Kevin Smith was catapulted to fame when his first film, Clerks, was honoured at both the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. It was at Sundance where the film, made for a meager $27,000 in the convenience store where Smith was employed, was picked up by Miramax, going on to make over $3 million (Wasserstein, 2006). Since then, Smith has produced such critically acclaimed films as Chasing Amy and Mallrats, as well as flops like Jersey Girls (Wasserstein, 2010). While his movies have had varying degrees of box-office success, Smith has developed a loyal, almost cult-like fan base due, in part, to his early adoption of technology as means to reach out to and communicate with his supporters (Wasserstein, 2010). With a body of work often described as raunchy, colourful and vulgar, Smith has faced his share of controversy, including several court battles around his films’ ratings and staunch criticism from religious groups and GLAAD (Gays and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) (Smith, 2010c). However, according to those closest to him, Smith would rather walk away from controversy than confront it face on. “Contrary to popular belief, I am not a boat rocker,” Smith said, in a February podcast with his wife, who describes him as “never rude” and as having “exceptional manners” (Schwalback and Smith, 2010). 2.2 Southwest Airlines After over-coming serious legal obstacles to industry entry, including two verdicts overturned by the Supreme Court, the little airline that could flew its inaugural flight in 1971 (Southwest, 2010). Since its beginning, Southwest has focused on people, its Too Fat to Fly: Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines - Part 1 Page 3 mission: “dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride and Company spirit” (Southwest, 2010). Appropriately, Southwest’s identifier on the NYSE is LUV, a play on words the company employs regularly to describe its service policies. Interestingly and like Smith, Southwest was an early adopter of social media within its industry. The company engages with customers via Facebook, podcasts and its blog, Nuts About Southwest, which launched in 2006 into otherwise unchartered territory (Albert, 2008). Its YouTube account brims with examples of both wonderful customer service and happy, engaged employees. And while not quite up to Smith’s numbers, Southwest boasts over 1 million followers on Twitter (Albert, 2008). According to Fombrun and Van Riel (2004), Southwest has built its distinctive, oft admired corporate culture by living its vision, including always putting employees first. By doing so, Southwest believed that it would positively affect all other areas of the business – including customer service – so emphasis was placed on working together, to do what was in the best interest of the airline, with a strong focus on having fun (2004). From the long list of awards and recognition bestowed on the airline, including consecutive places on Fortune’s Most Admired list, Business Week’s Top 20 Best Companies for Leadership and an array of best in class customer service awards (Southwest, 2010), Southwest seems to be doing something right, delivering LUV in an industry often criticized for having no such thing. 2.3 Linda Rutherford, Vice President, Communications and Strategic Outreach With Southwest since 1992, Linda Rutherford is responsible for leading media relations, employee communications, emerging and multimedia, charitable giving and community affairs for the airline. A graduate of Texas Tech University with a degree in journalism, Linda says the best advice she was ever given was “always do the right thing, even if it’s the unpopular decision, so you can go to bed at night with a pure heart” (Southwest, 2010). 2.4 Christi (Day) McNeil, Emerging Media Specialist Christi McNeill, spokesperson and voice of Southwest Airlines’ twitter account, handles online media relations for the airline. She has worked for Southwest since October, 2007. 2.5 Southwest’s Customer of Size Policy According to its website, the policy states: Too Fat to Fly: Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines - Part 1 Page 4 Customers who are unable to lower both armrests and/or who compromise any portion of adjacent seating should proactively book the number of seats needed prior to travel. The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats and measures 17 inches in width. This purchase serves as a notification of a special seating need and allows us to process a refund of the additional seating cost after travel (provided the flight doesn’t oversell). Most importantly, it ensures that all onboard have access to safe and comfortable seating (Southwest, 2010). According to McNeill, the policy was implemented 25 years ago (2010). “You’ve heard about these situations before,” McNeill states, on the Nuts About Southwest blog, (2010) perhaps referring to the Thompson vs. Southwest discrimination case, where a unanimous verdict was returned in favour of the airline (Southwest, 2010). “The spirit of this policy is based solely on Customer comfort and Safety,” writes McNeill (2010). 2.6 Social Media A variety of social media platforms were used during the Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines situation, including blogs, video and tweets. Kaplan and Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 which allows the creation and exchange of user- generated content” (2010). By all accounts, social media adoption is on the rise. In a report published by Nielsen in early 2010, U.S. consumers spent 210% more minutes on social networking in 2009 than 2008 (2010). Facebook continues to lead the pack in terms of overall usage, Twitter is the fastest growing, its unique visitors increasing by 579% from the previous year (2010) and reportedly over 100 million users in early 2010. (See Appendix A). 3. The Plot According to Smith, the fat conversation began before he ever set foot on a plane, when he explained to an employee at the Southwest desk that while he had two seats for the original flight, they were purchased for comfort and not because he was too large for one seat (Schwalback and Smith, 2010). “I’m fat, but I’m not that fat. Yet.” Smith recounts on his February 2010 podcast (2010). Too Fat to Fly: Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines - Part 1 Page 5 When the same employee who he spoke to in the airport approached him after he had stored his bag and taken a seat, it didn’t occur to the director that he was getting booted from the flight. “There are health and safety issues,” the employee explained, according to Smith, who was also told the decision had ultimately been the captain’s (Schwalback and Smith, 2010; Smith, 2010a). What transpired afterwards was a number of conversations between Smith and Southwest employees, some apologies, the offer of a $100 gift voucher and one, embarrassed celebrity with time to kill before his next flight (Schwalback and Smith, 2010). 4. The Twitter Fury In the hour or so Smith had between being ejected from the first flight and boarding the one that would eventually take him home, he hit Twitter with a vengeance. "Dear @SouthwestAir - I know I'm fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?" (3:52pm, February 13th) (Position2, 2010) This one tweet generated hundreds of responses on Smith’s Twitter page and Smith was only beginning. So, @SouthwestAir, go f*** yourself. I broke no regulation, offered no “safety risk” (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?). I was..wrongly ejected from the flight (even Suzanne eventually agreed). And f***your apologetic $100 voucher, @SouthwestAir. Thank God I don’t..embarrass easily (bless you, JERSEY GIRL training). But I don’t sulk off either: so everyday, some new f***- you Tweets for @SouthwestAir. (2010). (See Appendix B for timeline of tweets). Wanna tell me I’m too wide for the sky? Totally cool. But fair warning, folks: IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWESTAIR. (2010). (See Appendix B). (1/2) @pigz “I know several people bigger then u who have flown on other airlines” I saw someone bigger than me on THAT flight! But I wasn’t (2/2) about to throw a fellow Fatty under the plane as I’m being profiled. But he & I made eye contact, & he was like “Please don’t tell…” (2010). (See Appendix B).