[Lee Jong-gil's Autumn Return] An Era Overflowing with Apologies... The Art of Genuine Apology

Sean O'Mara and Kerry Cooper 'A Society of Apologies Without Remorse'

The movie 'Peter Rabbit (2018)' was embroiled in controversy upon its release. A scene where Peter and his friends throw blackberries at McGregor, who has a blackberry allergy, was criticized. McGregor appears to struggle for breath and only calms down after receiving an epinephrine injection.

Some viewers were outraged that 'Peter Rabbit' trivialized food allergies. They argued that the film lightly depicted a life-threatening issue and even launched a boycott campaign on social media. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) sent an open letter expressing concerns to Sony Pictures. They broadened the offended group to include the 15 million Americans with food allergies to raise public awareness. Major media outlets such as The New York Times and The Guardian covered the issue as a headline, and more than 18,000 people signed a petition demanding an apology.

In the film, Peter commits many misdeeds but ultimately repents. Sony Pictures could have cited this ending as an important depiction of remorse. However, they issued an apology statement without much defense and took no further action. Sony Pictures did not cancel screenings and earned over $100 million in the opening week despite boycott threats.

As a result, all parties involved in the controversy emerged as winners. The media incited anger with critical articles, film critics secured an apology, and Sony Pictures quelled the controversy with just an apology statement.

If Sony Pictures had not apologized over this issue, they might have achieved even greater success. Boycott movements often remain mere threats. After NFL players kneeled during the national anthem to protest racial discrimination, the NFL faced boycott threats but remains strong today.

Anyone can easily react to and participate in issues, and criticism has become unrestrained. Even minor criticism can quickly escalate beyond control. Consequently, there are frequent instances of hasty apologies in situations where the issue is trivial or where an apology might actually cause misunderstanding. This leads to a vicious cycle where the phrase "I'm sorry" loses its weight when a sincere apology is truly needed.

Sean O'Mara and Kerry Cooper's book, The Apology Society Without Apologies, warns that the crisis of apologies directly translates into crises in everyday life, politics, and business. They point out that as the phrase "I'm sorry" gradually loses meaning, apologies are exploited by companies or individuals as a means to evade responsibility or for publicity. They criticize the environment that encourages unconditional apologies devoid of truth and sincerity and emphasize the need to exclude impulsive apologies.

Such problematic practices are easily found in internet communities and social media. Many who express anger toward individuals or organizations are not closely related to mistakes, misunderstandings, or faults. Their anger does not necessarily affect the individuals or organizations and therefore does not always lead to boycotts. This makes online anger an unsuitable tool for predicting customer satisfaction. In fact, Southwest Airlines posts apologies in 64% of their tweets but still receives top ratings in customer satisfaction surveys.

In this regard, Ryanair's response is noteworthy. In 2018, Ryanair faced near-terror-level criticism on social media after eliminating the 10kg free baggage allowance. Many threatened to boycott the airline. However, Ryanair issued the following statement, confident that threats occur only in disconnected spaces:

"Our planes are always full of customers who have vowed never to fly with us again, yet we offer the lowest fares compared to other airlines and maintain high repurchase rates due to excellent punctuality. We fully understand that this is the customers' choice. If you want higher fares and lower punctuality, please choose another airline. There are plenty of customers to fill empty seats."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.