People Are Paranoid Their Crock-Pots Are Going to Kill Them
In a recent episode of the NBC drama This Is Us, an unfortunate incident occurs: A fire started by a faulty Crock-Pot might be responsible for the death of one of the show's beloved characters, Jack Pearson.
The cliffhanger has had a ripple effect in the real world. Fans of the show are latching onto the somewhat believable premise that your Crock-Pot could one day kill you in a fiery blaze. It's been so bad, actually, that Crock-Pot had to create a Twitter account (@CrockPotCares) to ease anxieties among the show's viewers. People have spent days tweeting fears that the slow-cookers are really agents of chaos dressed up in domestic comfort.
Luckily for the brand and its poor social media team, there's folks out there who don't believe Crock-Pots instantly portend death. This group is using the hashtag #CrockPotInnocent to spread the word, like a genuine grassroots effort to take the blame off the company.
The internet is clearly locked in a fierce battle. Slow-cooked beef is caught in the crosshairs.
Despite the largely meaningless back-and-forth on social media, This Is Us has forced Newell Brands, Crock-Pot's parent company, to perform legitimate damage control. A company spokesperson told CNN on Friday:
"Consumers understand and have confidence that all Crock-Pot slow cookers exceed all internal testing protocols and all applicable industry safety standards and regulations."
The spokesperson went on to say that yeah, the company has a duty to ease people's anxieties, regardless of how ill-informed they might be:
"Our hope is that the team at NBC's 'This Is Us' will help us spread factual information regarding our product's safety. While we know their primary mission is to entertain -- something they have continued to excel in -- we also feel they have a responsibility to inform," they said.
Adding insult to injury, the anti-Crock-Pot agenda surfaced on Twitter right as the brand's stock tumbled 20 points, owing to "a grim forecast and strategy shift," reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Get well soon, Crock-Pot. You never deserved this.
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