Kristen Strmel Blog Post #3: The LinkedIn "Kiss Cam" Debacle: What to Do When Your Organization Goes Viral For All the Wrong Reasons
Nowadays, I think it’s pretty safe to say that social media is an invaluable tool for organizations. They’re a great way to communicate your mission, advertise your brand, extend your reach, and all that awesome stuff. LinkedIn in particular is probably the best way for upstart organizations to build connections and spread the word about what they seek to accomplish.
Of course, the rewards of using social media to promote your organization come with their own risks. A tone-deaf post, unprofessional structure, allegations of misbehavior from an employee…all of these things might cause an organization’s social media campaign to completely and utterly backfire. Say, for example, that the CEO of your organization was caught on camera at a concert embracing a fellow employee who wasn’t his spouse.
For those unfamiliar, the LinkedIn “kiss cam” incident has become something of a legend in online circles. On July 15th of 2025, during a Coldplay concert, the stadium Jumbotron caught a couple embracing. Upon realizing that they were being filmed, the two quickly split apart, seemingly overcome with embarrassment. Chris Martin, Coldplay’s lead singer, suggested that the couple was either very shy, or having an affair.
As it turns out, his latter guess was dead-on. The man was Andy Byron, CEO of Astronomer, a data collection company; the woman was Kristin Calbot, Astronomer’s chief people officer. The two were not married.
The Internet quickly exploded with all sorts of memes about how the two had made complete fools of themselves, how they never would’ve been caught had they not reacted…and while all that stuff is fine and dandy, I actually want to speak about how Astronomer’s team responded.
Andy Byron resigned not long after his affair was discovered. In Astronomer’s post regarding the resignation, the mention of his affair is pretty brief. In fact, it’s not even mentioned at all–there’s just a brief allusion to him failing to meet the standards of “conduct and accountability.” The majority of the post is dedicated to how the event skyrocketed the general public’s awareness of Astronomer, and how it will continue to uphold its mission and serve its customers. This is either corporate damage-control at its finest, or a brilliant maneuver to capitalize upon the attention gained from Byron and Cabot’s affair. Maybe both, depending on who you ask.
On July 21st, Interim CEO Peter DeJoy created a post speaking about the next steps for Astronomer. Again, there’s an emphasis on the company’s mission, and how everyone at Astronomer has never backed down from a challenge–indeed, “challenge” is about the most detailed reference we get to the (literal) affair that landed him in this position, along with “the events of the past few days.” It’s corporate pathos at its finest, but also something of a brilliant maneuever–the equivalent of a perfect answer to the interview question “speak about a time in which you faced a challenge.” (To be clear, I’m not looking to criticize DeJoy–I can only imagine what it’s like to conduct damage control in a situation like this.)
While the whole “Kiss Cam” debacle is notable in its own, morbidly entertaining way, it does cast a very revealing light on the line that organizations have to tread in using social media. Getting those sweet clicks is great until it isn’t–but then again, it might still be great. Is negative attention better than no attention at all? I suppose it depends on whether or not you can turn that negative attention around.
So, what do you think? Was Astronomer’s response to the “Kiss Cam” debacle a successful attempt to promote the company? Or will Astronomer forever be known as that one company with the CEO who got caught having an affair at a Coldplay concert? (Though, who knows–perhaps Astronomer can take advantage of the worst case scenario, and partner with Coldplay for a worldwide data analytic tour.)
Hi Kristen, I think it's so iconic that you made a post about this viral moment! I agree that in situations like this it's so interesting to see how companies respond. I'm with you that I think it's better to embrace controversy and acknowledge the elephant in the room and not sweep scandals under the rug. I also think it's better to immediately release a statement, fire who needs to be fired, etc. before someone beats you to it and makes it look like you were trying to cover it up. I think Astronomer partnering with Coldplay would be a good way to make the best of the situation, especially since that seems to be the majority of people's first run in with the company.
ReplyDeleteReleasing a statement--even a brief one--earlier is definitely the way to go! I've seen no small number of controversies arising from companies failing to respond to major conflicts. Failing to do so gives people the impression you're aiming to sweep the whole thing under the rug--and, while I'm sure some companies would love to do that, it's quite difficult amidst the hyper-visibility of our digital world.
DeleteI would love to see the delightful "cringe" that arises from a hypothetical Astronomer and Coldplay team-up...I can just see the jokes about Coldplay lending Astronomer their Jumbotron for virtual meetings!
Hi Kristin!
DeleteI agree, Astronomer handled this well. The story was already viral, so saying too much would’ve just made it worse, and they didn't really have the option to say nothing at all. Keeping their post short, having Byron step down, and focusing on their mission was probably the smartest move they could have made.
People will still remember them as “that kiss cam company” for a while (memes live forever), but people's memories and attention spans are short, and in time, I think they will recover.
And yeah, the whole “any publicity is good publicity” thing is interesting here! They definitely received a lot of attention, so if they use it as an opportunity to demonstrate strong leadership and solid values, it could actually end up benefiting them in the long term. Only time will tell!
I agree with everything you said! The news cycle is definitely fast enough that people will forgot--or, at least, that their initial reaction to the whole thing won't be as intense. I imagine they'll always have some kind of meme status among certain corners of the Internet (can't wait for someone to reference it 10 years from now, and for a bunch of commenters to say "that was back in 2025? I feel so old.") To stakeholders who matter, however, a thing like this is ideally just a blip on the radar. What matters more is what kind of benefits the company can provide them.
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