Image which from a video which shows Golden attacking the Uber driver
Benjamin Golden, a senior marketing manager at Taco Bell was fired from his position shortly after a video of the assault taken from the Uber drivers dash-cam was released to the public.
The assault had nothing to do with how well Golden preformed his job, however due to public outrage demanding his removal from his position at Taco Bell, the company had no choice but to let Golden go.
This links topics from both marketing and ethics. It was negative publicity for Taco Bell and resulted in thousands of distraught customers. The incident also relates to ethics; Golden has attempted to issue a public and in-person apology to the victim Uber driver and appears remorseful. However, Taco Bell’s decision will have the impact of ruining Golden’s entire professional career. On the other hand, it would be extremely difficult to keep Golden on board given the circumstances and negative impact on the company’s image.
I believe that the main deciding factor for this situation was the video. It is undeniable proof of what happened and allows the public to be easily outraged. If there were no video proof of the incidence occurring, it would have been settled quickly, have received minimal media coverage, and Golden would have most likely have kept his job. Yes I completely agree that Golden was one-hundred percent in the wrong in this situation, however I do not believe that this one intoxicated mistake should warrant him with thousands of death-threats, to be publicly humiliated, and have the rest of his professional career and social life ruined.
Sources:
[1] http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/taco-bell-fires-marketing-manager-who-was-caught-video-punching-uber-driver-167905
[2] http://abc7news.com/news/uber-attack-suspect-makes-statement-wants-to-apologize-in-person/1070606/