the sPRint: The ‘Office Pizza Party’ Strikes Back
June 25, 2026 | We cover Meta’s latest internal comms blunder, TSA-compliant ranch dressing, and how going against the grain can produce positive publicity, even for the most beleaguered brands. Plus, why are people asking journalists to share articles in advance?
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The Warmup
June Facts 📅 Dr. Opal Lee, the face of the modern Juneteenth movement and recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom, has published a new book, A Committee of One, five years after joining President Joe Biden in the White House as Juneteenth was officially named a federal holiday in the U.S.
Happy Birthday, Edelman 🎂Next year, Edelman—one of the largest and most well-known PR agencies in the world—will turn 75 years old. CEO Richard Edelman joined Gordon Young, Editor-in-Chief of The Drum, for a conversation about the milestone—and why he thinks AI has handed comms its ‘moment’. Read it here.
On the pod 🎙️ Spry PR founder Stephanie Pryor recently joined Colin Davis, host of But First, Principles, to talk about PR—what it is, what’s it not, and where to start. Check it out.
Fast Twitch: Meta Did the ‘Office Pizza Party’ Meme IRL—An Internal Comms Blunder for the Ages
Unfortunately for Meta, they’ve been the subject of a barrage of negative coverage over the past few months: mass layoffs, forced reassignments and employee morale at an all-time low. This week, they got burned again when it was revealed that they were attempting to boost morale with a bigger snack budget.
As a reminder, Meta laid off 10% of its workforce—nearly 8,000 employees—last month, while thousands more were involuntarily reassigned to work on Meta’s AI models.
During an internal call with CTO Andrew Bosworth, “Boz” reportedly admitted that morale is “probably one of the worst it’s ever been.” He also revealed Meta’s plan to boost morale along with some fresh messaging about how employees are valued but have to make sacrifices, and how he and Meta’s leadership are working to make the company’s culture more “fun and enjoyable.”
“The team has no idea what their future at the company looks like,” wrote author and executive coach Namita Kutty on LinkedIn this week. “This is what happens when companies delay fixing broken workplace cultures until an emergency pops up. [...] Morale isn't built by perks only; it's built when people understand where the company is going, why decisions are being made, and what their place in that future looks like.”
Internal communications and the employee experience are inextricably linked, and Meta is doing a heck of a botched job right now. When your employees see what you are doing (e.g. laying off thousands of people and forcibly reassigning thousands of others), but they hear solution statements that are disproportionate to the issue (e.g. “Let’s throw an office pizza party to lighten the mood!”), you are not helping the situation—instead, you come across as uncaring, tone-deaf or dishonest (or a combination of all three).
During sensitive periods for any organization, honest, transparent and proactive communications (with a sizable dose of humanity and humility) are the most powerful tool in your internal comms toolbox.
Read about better approaches to communicating layoffs from PRSA and the benefits of overhauling your internal communications from Harvard Business Review.
The High: Supply Will Meet Demand for One Viral World Cup Trend
Kraft Heinz confirmed last week that it would, for a limited time, sell TSA-compliant ranch dressing in an effort to meet viral demand from foreign World Cup visitors for this distinctly American product. Both Kraft Heinz and TSA’s social media teams were on the case quickly. Read More in USA Today.
Slow Twitch: Going Against the Grain on the AI Train
This week, Starbucks announced that it will hire thousands of “coffeehouse coaches” in an effort to increase leadership inside the 10,000 or so stores it runs directly in the U.S. While most news related to jobs these days tends to be about whether AI will take them all, Starbucks is instead pushing out a bit of good press around a people-first initiative.
Of course, this doesn’t erase the bad taste of the company’s previous layoffs, store closures and union-busting, but it is a breath of fresh air for (1) people who are tired of hearing about AI taking their jobs and (2) people who don’t want to wait as long in the Starbucks drive-through every morning.
Jessica Nunez, President at TruePoint Communications, shared her thoughts on the matter on LinkedIn.
“Most service-based businesses don't have a technology problem. They have people problems. Customers rarely leave because your AI isn't sophisticated enough. They leave because service is inconsistent, employees aren't engaged and nobody invested in developing the people representing the brand every day,” Nunez writes. “AI can improve efficiency. It can automate tasks. It can surface insights. But it can't create human connection. It can't build trust. And it can't coach an employee to deliver a better customer experience (yet).”
So, what’s the download on this for PR professionals? Well… people are hungry for some good news. Even a beleaguered brand like Starbucks is able to get a nice pop of publicity for doing something as simple as investing in its employees and improving its service.
The Home Stretch: Do Not Do This When You’re Working with a Journalist… Ever!
This week, Construction Dive reporter Matthew Thibault posted a PSA on LinkedIn about a major media relations no-no: “I will not share advance copies of any articles I write with anyone outside of the Construction Dive newsroom. Period.”
The post received comments from a senior editor at CIO Dive and editor at Construction Wave chiming in to say they were experiencing the same thing.
What??? Who??? Why on earth???
“I've seen this issue crop up more often than not over the past year, so I want to say something publicly about it,” Thibault writes. “There are a few reasons for this. The simplest is that it's Construction Dive's editorial policy. More broadly, it's a breach of journalism ethics, and lends itself to the source dictating the story.”
On day one of your career in PR, you learn not to do this—it’s part of the give and take of earned media. But, as people are waking up to the value of earned media for getting better AI search results, people who don’t have PR agency experience are going to be reaching out to journalists. Doing things that make PR pros cringe. And things that make journalists mad (not good for us).
This uptick Thibault notes also raises some questions about trust in the media at large. While he emphasizes that he is not in the business of “gotcha” questions, the current media and political climate could cause sources for even the most innocuous story to worry that they’re going to be libeled or have their words twisted in some way.
As PR professionals, we must take this climate into consideration and ensure that we are addressing concerns from leadership or clients. And, it’s a good reminder that it’s hard out there for journalists and media relations pros—so let’s make sure we are supporting our friends on the other side of the inbox.
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