The below snippet is from Mumbrella's article ‘I would have thought the Qantas and PwC PR disasters would have been a lesson for all CEOs’: How Woolies got it wrong'
Australia Day merchandise is barely in the backyard bins, yet Woolworths has crashed head-first into another PR crisis.
Director of Reputation, Mark Forbes, and Director of Public Affairs, Benjamin Haslem, were invited to comment.
Rarely are more prophetic words uttered in a media interview, “I think I’m done guys,” said Woolworth’s CEO Brad Banducci attempting to rise from his chair under questioning during the ABC’s Four Corners program, which aired Monday night.
Come Wednesday morning his resignation was announced. Woolworths denied any connection to the interview, ongoing criticism of supermarkets price-gouging during a cost of living crisis and claims Banducci was attempting to cancel Australia Day by refusing to stock nationalistic merchandise.
Woolworths can point to the fact the supermarket giant has been searching for a new chief executive since the middle of last year, but the inevitable public perception will be the CEO was pushed out because of Four Corners and other missteps.