In September 2020 the Pew Research Center asked 10,093 Americans about calling people out on social media. Overall, 58% of U.S. adults said it is more likely to hold people accountable, and 38% said it is more likely to punish people who do not deserve it.
The split ran along party lines. Among Democrats and those leaning Democratic, 75% saw accountability. Among Republicans and those leaning Republican, 39% did.
On February 19, 2010, Tiger Woods read a statement for about 13 minutes before an invited audience in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. “I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated.” “I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior.” It was a scripted statement, and he took no questions.
Nine years and four back surgeries later, on April 14, 2019, he won the Masters for the fifth time.
The quarterback Michael Vick served 18 months in federal prison for dogfighting. In 2009 the Philadelphia Eagles signed him. According to Reid, he spent much of his time off speaking in public.
In 2010 he was voted the starting quarterback for the NFC in the Pro Bowl by fans, players and coaches, and the Associated Press named him Comeback Player of the Year. His coach, Andy Reid, said: “You can never erase that, but you can sure help change others from falling into that same problem.”
In his 2004 State of the Union, George W. Bush said: “America is the land of second chance, and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.” On April 9, 2008, he signed the Second Chance Act, a law for people leaving prison.
The House passed it 347 to 62, and the Senate by unanimous consent. In 2018 the First Step Act renewed and expanded it.
In 1986 Massachusetts passed the first state apology law. A former state senator’s daughter had been killed in a car accident, and the driver never apologized. He had wanted to, but dared not. By 2014, 37 states had such laws, which generally keep an expression of sympathy from being used as evidence of liability.
In 2001 the University of Michigan health system began disclosing medical errors to patients and offering compensation. New claims dropped sharply. The time to settle fell from twenty months to six.
William Safire called it “a passive-evasive way of acknowledging error while distancing the speaker from responsibility for it.” Ulysses S. Grant used a version in 1876. Nixon’s press secretary Ron Ziegler used it in 1973, Reagan in his 1987 State of the Union, Bill Clinton in 1997 and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in 2007.
The political scientist William Schneider named the grammar the “past exonerative” tense. An NPR headline called the phrase “the king of non-apologies.”
In an advertising campaign around the end of 2009, Domino’s featured its customers’ complaints. One said the crust tasted like cardboard. The company publicly admitted past mistakes and introduced a new recipe, with a garlic-seasoned crust and a blend of mozzarella and provolone.
The company asked customers to try again. Patrick Doyle, who became CEO as the campaign began, knew the risk. “If people tried (the pizza) again and they had a bad experience, we’d be done.”
In 2018 two Black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks were arrested for trespassing. They were released without charges. CEO Kevin Johnson apologized to them personally and spent days “learning what we did wrong and the steps we need to take to fix it.”
On the afternoon of May 29, Starbucks closed more than 8,000 U.S. stores and its corporate offices for racial-bias education.
On February 14, 2007, a storm grounded JetBlue at New York’s JFK airport. Some passengers waited for as long as six hours on planes before they could return to a gate. CEO David Neeleman wrote to customers: “We are sorry and embarrassed. But most of all, we are deeply sorry.”
He also apologized on YouTube, and on February 21 JetBlue issued a Customer Bill of Rights with fixed compensation for delays. By general consensus, the company came out of it stronger. Neeleman did not. About three months later he stepped down as CEO at the board’s recommendation.
In the fall of 1982 seven people in the Chicago area died after taking poisoned Tylenol capsules. Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million bottles, worth about $100 million. Tylenol’s share of the market fell to under a tenth.
On November 11, 1982, the company introduced triple-sealed, tamper-resistant packaging. The bottles had plastic seals over their caps and foil seals over their mouths. Within about a year Tylenol had regained most of its market.
The capsules had apparently been tampered with after they reached the shelves. Johnson & Johnson repaired the trust anyway.