Corporate Apologia
Image Source: Anthony Quintano from Honolulu, HI, United States, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Use the table below to browse the archive. Click a column heading to sort the entries, or click a linked name to open the full case page.
| Accused | Accusation | Year of Apologia |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T | Power outage in New York City | 1991 |
| Bernard Madoff | Ponzi scheme with investors | 2009 |
| Dow Chemical Company | Developing napalm during Vietnam | 1968 |
| Jack in the Box | E-coli deaths resulting from contaminated meat | 1993 |
| JetBlue Airways | Grounding of flights for six days due to ice storm at JFK | 2007 |
| Toyota | Recall of automobiles | 2010 |
| Exxon | Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound that caused irreparable environmental damage. | 1989 |
| New York Times | False information about ACORN | 2010 |
| Domino's Pizza | Employees contaminating pizza in YouTube video | 2009 |
| Starbucks | Employees charged 9/11 rescue workers for water | 2001 |
| Johnson & Johnson | Cyanide poisoning in Tylenol Extra-Strength capsules killed 7 Chicagoans. | 1982 |
| Union Carbide | Gas leak in Bhopal, India, that killed 19,000 and affected 500,000 more | 1984 |
| Walmart | Website recommends that buyers of the Planet of the Apes video might also be interested in a Martin Luther King Jr. video | 2006 |
| Michael Lynton, CEO, Sony Entertainment | Caving to North Korean demands to stop the release of the film The Interview | 2015 |
| Scott Rudin and Amy Pascal, Sony Pictures | Sony hack released emails attacking Angelina Jolie | 2014 |
| Samsung | Samsung Galaxy Note 7 batteries overheating and catching on fire | 2017 |
| Applebee's | Serving alcohol to 15-month-old in an apple juice cup. | 2011 |
| Netflix | Splitting up Netflix combined streaming/DVD mail package and charging separately for each | 2011 |
| Taco Bell | Lawsuit claiming that Taco Bell's beef is only 36% real beef | 2011 |
| Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Unsafe track conditions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that resulted in crash and death of Dan Wheldon | 2011 |
| Best Buy | Overcharging for bottled water after Hurricane Harvey hits Houston | 2017 |
| Equifax | Cybersecurity breach that exposed personal data of 143 million Americans | 2017 |
| Harvey Weinstein | Sexually harassing women for nearly three decades. | 2017 |
| MoviePass | Outage of its service from lack of funds | 2018 |
| Salt City Tattoo | "Rape Kit" as white elephant gift at Christmas Party | 2017 |
| The Mayo Clinic | For its founder desecrating the body of Native American "Cut Nose" | 2018 |
| Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom | Security breaches in Zoom video conferencing platform | 2020 |
| McDonald’s (China) | Posting a sign disallowing black people from entering restaurant | 2020 |
| Kentucky Fried Chicken (United Kingdom) | Chicken shortage in the U.K. due to a change in its supplier. | 2018 |
| hatWRKS | Selling patches with a yellow Star of David and the text "not vaccinated" following push for Covid-19 vaccinations | 2021 |
| St. Johns County School District | Digitally altering yearbook photos to make girls more modestly dressed | 2021 |
| Chung Yong-jin | Starbucks Korea promoted a politically insensitive tumbler | 2026 |
| PepsiCo | Dangerous conditions during the filming of a Pepsi commercial led to Michael Jackson's hair starting on fire. | 2009 |
| Mark Zuckerberg | Facebook data breach | 2018 |
| Lululemon | Promotional event on the Great Wall of China featured a traditional Japanese drum. | 2026 |
| Charles Henderson – American Diabetes Association | Removing physicians from a scientific convention after they distributed an editorial that was critical of President Donald Trump. | 2026 |
| Oscar Munoz | Forcible removal of passenger on United Airlines flight. | 2017 |
| Pepsi | Promotional Threads post made light of sexual assault. | 2026 |
| Hilton/Hampton Inn | Hampton Inn in Minnesota denied reservations for government ICE agents. | 2026 |
| Taylor Farms/Taylor Fresh Foods | Contaminated lettuce caused diarrhea outbreak. | 2026 |
| Frida Baby | Sexually explicit advertising for baby products. | 2026 |
| Chip Wilson, Lululemon | Saying that some women's bodies don't work with his clothing line. | 2013 |
| eBay | Cyberstalking and harassment campaign directed at Ina and David Steiner, husband-and-wife publishers of an independent newsletter covering e-commerce companies. | 2024 |
| Apple | Intentionally building iPhones to slow down over time. | 2017 |
| Travis Kalanick, Uber | Arguing with Uber driver Fawzi Kamel about lowering of fares. | 2017 |
| Jeffrey Skilling, Enron | The energy company's off-balance-sheet partnerships, conflicts of interest, hidden debt, and the accuracy of information provided to investors | 2002 |
| David Glass – Walmart | Wal-Mart's decision to mark foreign goods as "Made in America" | 1992 |
| John Stumpf, Wells Fargo | Wells Fargo employees had opened roughly 1.5 million deposit accounts and applied for approximately 565,000 credit card accounts that had not been authorized by consumers. | 2016 |
| Gerry Cahill, Carnival Cruise Lines | A 2013 engine-room fire disabled the Carnival Triumph, stranding more than 3,100 passengers in difficult conditions. | 2013 |
| Martin Shkreli, Turing Pharmaceuticals | His company,Turing Pharmaceuticals, acquired a decades-old drug and raised its price from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. | 2018 |