Those who fight culture find themselves wishing they hadn’t. Those who embrace it win. Case in point: that Taylor Swift “seemingly ranch” moment of happenstance virality.
To be fair, to say the subject matter in which Duke’s brand showed up in The White Lotus—against a backdrop of suicide and possible homicide—is at once sensitive and challenging to navigate is a strong understatement. They had their work cut out for them and there were no simple paths. It’s easy for me to analyze from the sidelines, but sometimes the sidelines afford the clearest view.
The reality is that a brand gets to choose if, how, and when they respond. And when they do, they get to shape the context. There was more than one angle in which the Duke brand showed up: Wealth, travel, and death were a few of them. Duke’s reaction ensured that the primary focus was on the last one.
While I’d argue death was the most challenging angle to navigate, I understand why they chose it. I struggle, however, with how they squandered the moment and the platform they were given. This could have been an opportunity to stoke student activism at Duke, focused on getting Mike White, Max, and people around the country to help fund suicide prevention efforts on behalf of all universities in the U.S. A serious topic deserves serious support.
Duke could have played a major role in this issue rather than distancing itself from it. And they could have done so credibly, considering Duke has a Center for the Study of Suicide Prevention and Intervention dedicated to it. That’s just one example of an alternative path that was available to them.
![This post was created in partnership with Brandwatch A brand’s response to a crisis can define public perception for years. In an era where misinformation spreads in seconds and consumers […]](https://www.adweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Group_Photo-1200x675-1.jpg?w=640&h=360&crop=1)
Brands, some more than others, should prepare for escape velocity. Once your brand is part of the zeitgeist, it can get swept up in the cultural conversation. And you want it that way. The question thereafter becomes whether you want to shape the narrative or just react to it.
By trading off brand control in favor of brand management, you gain access to sizable opportunities to grow and maintain relevance at scale. Only the businesses and teams that do the work ahead of time to ensure their brands are fit for culture stand a chance of navigating viral moments successfully. When unfit brands see fire, they grab water.