When most people hear about misinformation risks today, they think of deepfakes. And for good reason — AI-generated video and audio are headline grabbers. But deepfakes are only one slice of the narrative risk landscape.
For brands, the bigger challenge is how real-world narratives form, spread, and take on a life of their own — often in ways that reshape public perception and force real-world business decisions. A misstep, a misread, or even a single video clip can be reframed into a storyline that damages reputation, trust, or operations. Focusing only on synthetic media misses the point: most brand crises are driven by how stories are amplified, not just how content is created.
Let’s look at some well-known examples, as well as some emerging brand crises where narrative discourse — not deepfakes — shaped outcomes.
Let’s look at some well-known examples, as well as some emerging brand crises where narrative discourse — not deepfakes — shaped outcomes.
In November 2022, Balenciaga released a holiday campaign featuring children holding teddy bear handbags dressed in bondage-style accessories — followed soon after by a separate campaign where court documents related to child pornography laws were visible in a product shot. Within several days, online criticism snowballed as users reframed the imagery as exploitative rather than avant-garde.
By the time the narrative reached full velocity, hashtags like #BurnBalenciaga and #CancelBalenciaga had amassed more than 300 million views on TikTok. In the wake of the campaign, Balenciaga reportedly lost around 100,000 Instagram followers, and the company recorded a 4% decline in “other brands” sales — a slump that was widely linked in media commentary to the controversy. Public figures and industry voices also criticized the campaigns, adding to the reputational pressure the brand faced.
This wasn’t a manipulated video — the campaigns were provocative by design, but their potential consequences may not have been fully anticipated. Once the narrative took hold, the brand was forced into damage control. A strong narrative intelligence capability can predict the damage, catch early discomfort signals, surface rising sentiment, and help decision-makers decide whether, and where, to pivot before the story turned into a reputational flashpoint.
Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad was meant to promote unity. Instead, the narrative reframed it as tone-deaf and trivializing protest movements. Social media lit up with #PepsiFail, memes spread faster than official comms, and the brand pulled the ad within 48 hours — a rapid reversal that underscored how quickly reputational equity can unravel.
Narrative analysis isn’t just about counting mentions. It’s about detecting and predicting when the meaning assigned by the public diverges from the brand’s intent — and seeing that divergence early enough to adjust.
Shein invited influencers to tour its factories in a move designed to show transparency. Instead, the narrative flipped: critics argued the trip was staged to obscure deeper labor and ethics issues. The backlash amplified quickly, undermining the very purpose of the campaign.
Narratives don’t only emerge organically — sometimes they form around your own initiatives. Intelligence tools must help test and monitor campaigns in real time, revealing not just what’s being said but how it’s being reframed.
At the US Open, a clip of Polish CEO Piotr Szczerek snatching a tennis hat intended for a child went viral, with millions of views. What he later described as a misunderstanding was instantly reframed online as entitlement and arrogance. Even after an apology and gesture to make amends, the incident tied his personal behavior directly to his company’s image.
Not every crisis starts with corporate messaging. Narrative intelligence must account for how quickly individual executive behavior becomes a proxy for brand character.
In September 2025, Nestlé dismissed CEO Laurent Freixe after an internal investigation into a workplace relationship. Though handled decisively, the external narrative wasn’t just “policy enforced.” Headlines focused on leadership instability, cultural risk, and the reputational implications for one of the world’s largest consumer brands.
Even well-managed internal issues can be recast externally. Intelligence should help anticipate the storylines media and stakeholders are most likely to push.
In September 2025, ICE detained 475 workers at Hyundai’s Georgia EV plant, the largest single-site raid in the agency’s history. Although Hyundai stressed the workers were subcontractor hires, the narrative framed it as oversight failure. Coverage of the raid quickly spilled into markets as well, with Hyundai and LG Energy Solution shares edging lower in the immediate aftermath, according to the Financial Times . Commentators warned of reputational damage with potential ripple effects on the U.S.–South Korea investment ties.
Operational crises quickly morph into reputational narratives. The story became less about a raid and more about Hyundai’s governance and reliability — precisely the kind of shift brands must anticipate.
None of these examples originated from deepfakes or AI manipulation. They were ordinary campaigns, executive missteps, or operational crises — yet the narratives built around them caused the real damage.
Deepfakes may grab headlines, but the real brand risks come from narratives that spread faster than organizations can react. Tracking those narratives — and acting on them wisely — is what separates a passing hiccup from a reputational crisis.
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