CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

How KitKat turned a potential crisis into a public relations opportunity

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2026

When more than 400,000 of its chocolate bars were stolen, the brand didn’t go ‘formal’. Instead, it went on a clever PR offensive.

Not long before Easter, chocolate bar brand KitKat experienced what could have been a PR disaster of some magnitude. A truck carrying 12 tonnes of KitKat bars, including a new Formula 1-themed range, went missing which travelling between the European nations of Italy and Poland.

Gone! More than 400,000 chocolate bars seemingly disappeared into thin air. What was a brand to do? Parent company Nestlé didn’t hide behind a formal statement and then go into hiding. Rather, it went on a public relations offensive.

How airline Ryanair responded to the PR opportunity. Photo: X

In a LinkedIn post published on The PR Brief, Kenyan-based PR executive Lucia Musau (a past African Marketing Confederation conference speaker), dissects the Nestlé response and how it put a positive spin on the situation.

“Now, what would most brands do here? Panic. Issue a stiff corporate statement. Hide behind legal language. Wait for it to blow over,” says Musau, who is CEO of African Elite Group. “KitKat did none of that. They cracked a joke. And it worked.”

This was the brand’s official response: “We’ve always encouraged people to have a break with KitKat – but it seems thieves have taken the message too literally.”

The crisis was reframed and other brands piled in

Notes Musau in her analysis: “One sentence. Built on their most iconic tagline. Witty, warm, completely on-brand.

“And it changed everything. Because that one line didn’t just manage a crisis, it reframed it. Suddenly, this wasn’t a supply chain problem. It was a cultural moment. And every brand on the internet wanted a seat at the table.

“Then the pile-on started. Nobody was briefed. Nobody was asked. They just showed up.”

Dominos Pizza in the UK issued what it called an Official Statement on social media that offered “thoughts and condolences” to KitKat. But then announced: “We’ll now be selling a new KitKat pizza”.

Denny’s, a family restaurant chain, issued its own Official Statement: “We would like to make one thing clear…whatever happened to those KitKats happened between 1:30am and 4:00am and we were very busy…no further questions.”

Ryanair, the European budget airline, simply posted picture of one of its aircraft with an open mouth – full of partially eaten KitKat bars.

The science of newsjacking

Says Musau: “Different brands. All showing up, organically, enthusiastically, for a brand they have nothing to do with. Why? Because KitKat gave them permission by setting the tone first. This is called newsjacking. Most brands do it wrong.”

She believes the difference in this instance comes down to four things KitKat got right:

The story already had humour in it. You can’t steal 413,000 chocolate bars and expect anyone to be serious. The comedy was already there. KitKat just had to meet it.
They moved first. The first brand to respond always shapes how the story is told. KitKat didn’t wait to see how the internet would react. They set the frame.
Every brand found their own angle. Denny’s didn’t copy KitKat’s joke. Each brand found their own entry point. That’s what makes a pile-on feel organic instead of forced.
No brand made it about themselves. No “speaking of chocolate, here’s our new product”. Just pure play and that restraint is what made it land.

You can read the full article here.