Sainsbury’s CEO: The burn of a regrettable ‘hot mic’ moment
PEOPLE do many things before starting a media interview. They take a deep breath. They make small talk. They go over their notes.
Mike Coupe, the CEO of British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, apparently sings show tunes.
Coupe was preparing for a television interview to discuss the company’s newly announced US$ 10 billion deal to buy Walmart’s British arm, Asda Group, when he quietly, impassively, began singing a familiar tune - with the camera and audio on.
“We’re in the money, the sky is sunny,” the CEO sang at a level just above a hum. “Let’s lend it, spend it, send it rolling along.”
The broadcaster, ITV, released the video, and from there, it was curtains for any hope of keeping it from going viral.
Catching a CEO singing that song in that context - the opening song from the film “Gold Diggers of 1933,” a tune from the Broadway musical production of “42nd Street,” and the theme “Marketplace” listeners will recognise hearing on a day the stock market’s up - was, well, online gold.
While some may find Coupe’s rendition of “We’re in the Money” video funny, it probably won’t be to employees if the merger ends up leading to store closures or job losses ( Sainsbury’s CFO told Sky News, when pressed, that none are planned).
If the deal goes through, Sainsbury’s said the combination of the two chains would generate earnings “synergies” of around US$ 681 million and create the largest grocer in Britain.
Indeed, Coupe’s on- air ditty had sparked plenty of blowback by last Tuesday. GMB, a trade union in Britain that includes retail workers, asked “what on earth will Asda workers who are worrying about their futures think when they see this?” adding “it’s not only crass, it’s completely unprofessional and utterly insensitive.”
Others found it insensitive or showing “a complete lack of humility or compassion” for workers who faced planned job cuts or restructured roles in past months.
A tweet by a reported employee said “spare a thought for all the families” while Jennie Formby, the general secretary of the Labor Party, said the incident “won’t be taken well by the thousands” of union workers worried about their jobs.
Others winced at the blunder amid the news rollout and offered a reminder of what some called the first rule of P.R.: “If you’re wearing a mic, and are in front of a camera, ALWAYS assume you are being recorded,” tweeted one public relations “bloke.”
Sainsbury’s said in a statement reported by the Guardian that “to attach any wider meaning to this innocent, personal moment is preposterous;” noting that “we all know these songs stay in your head.”
In an emailed statement to The Washington Post, Coupe called it “an unguarded moment trying to compose myself before a TV interview.
It was an unfortunate choice of song, from the musical ‘42nd Street,’ which I saw last year and I apologise if I have offended anyone.”
Coupe, of course, is hardly the only leader to get caught on a hot mic doing something they’d prefer to keep private, with examples ranging from the highly damaging to the merely benign.