Dear Stacy: A Review Bomb and a Stadium Tarp

Dear Stacy: From the Office of WTF · Edition 2

This week a creator company's crew has to say something while its founders split in public, and an upholsterer gets review-bombed by the dealership she reviewed. Then Levi's turns a FIFA tarp over its stadium name into a running joke.

In this edition

• Letter 1: Our Founders Split Up in Public and the Team Has to Say Something
• Letter 2: I Left a Review and Got Review-Bombed Back
• From the Set: FIFA Put a Tarp Over Our Name

Letter 1 Our Founders Split Up in Public and the Team Has to Say Something

Dear Caught,

Slow down for one day. Get clear answers on who controls the accounts and the money, then speak to sponsors privately before you speak to the public. Whatever you post, keep it about the work and the people on your team.

The closest real example is the H3 Podcast. Ethan and Hila Klein started H3H3 Productions on YouTube in 2011 and launched the H3 Podcast in 2016, which has 5.4 million subscribers, according to Yahoo (Kelsey Weekman, October 23, 2026). In October 2026, Ethan posted that the podcast was going on indefinite hiatus. Hours later, Hila posted that they had separated and publicly said Ethan had an affair. Ethan had not publicly responded in the coverage I saw. The production crew posted that they stand with Hila and agreed they would not continue working with Ethan involved or profiting, while saying they did not yet know what that means for the future. Yahoo said it had reached out to the parties for comment.

This is a painful situation for a family, and the personal side belongs to them. The business side applies to any company built around a couple.

In a couple-owned business, the founders are the key-person risk. When their relationship changes, every open question about ownership, account access, sponsor contracts and approvals arrives at once. If nobody at your company has written those answers down, that is the first job.

Put these in place before anyone needs them:

1. Clear ownership records for the company, the channel, the brand and the accounts.
2. A written founder-exit plan that covers the show, the staff and sponsor obligations if one founder steps away.
3. One approved spokesperson for the business, separate from anyone's personal account.
4. A sponsor sheet of every deliverable and date, so staff can answer partners on their own.

Your sponsors are guessing right now, and a partner who knows what is happening forgives a lot more than one who is guessing. Clear Communication is the standard I would hold your team to this week, and it covers the work only.

Today, tell sponsors what you know about deliverables and timing. Tell the audience only what you can stand behind.

Parody letter inspired by reporting from Yahoo (Kelsey Weekman, October 23, 2026). The letter writer is fictional.

Letter 2 I Left a Review and Got Review-Bombed Back

Dear Reupholstered,

You are winning, so act like it. Part of you wants to keep posting, and that is the part to manage.

A Florida upholsterer lived a version of your week. She said a dealership manager retaliated against her one-star review by reviewing her shop, and the dealership later issued a public statement acknowledging an inappropriate response by a member of management. The business that came out worse was the one that answered a one-star review with a counterattack.

That dealership forgot that a review response is a piece of marketing. Future customers read it to decide how a business treats people when things go wrong. A manager who retaliates just told every shopper in the county exactly what happens if they complain. I have watched brands spend years building goodwill and lose it in one reply written in anger.

Your side is simpler. Make one factual post that sticks to what happened, with the tone kept flat. Ask your followers publicly not to pile on the other business, which is what she did. Report the fake reviews to the platform. Then go back to posting your actual work, because the upholstery is what people should remember you for once this fades. Passion is the value I would lean on. Passion gets you in the room, and discipline keeps you there, and right now the discipline is spending your hours on the craft instead of refreshing your comments.

Adapted from public TikTok posts as reported by We Got This Covered. Details changed.

✦ From the Set ✦ FIFA Put a Tarp Over Our Name

Dear Under Wraps,

Give it to the social team. The tarp is free creative, and the audience already gets the joke.

Levi's lived your exact situation at the 2026 World Cup. FIFA does not allow branding from non-sponsors at host venues, and says it removes existing branding to protect the exclusive rights of its sponsors. Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara was listed as "San Francisco Bay Area Stadium," and the giant logo went under a white tarp that still let the batwing shape show through. Levi's changed its social profile pictures to mimic the covered logo, and after the venue's first match it welcomed the world to the "beautiful [redacted] stadium" over a trending TikTok sound.

Marketing Magazine rounded up similar bits. Heinz Canada released ketchup bottles with the logo covered, Gillette suggested its branding had vanished under shaving cream, and Lumen made a mock documentary about removing its name from Lumen Field. The same piece said one Levi's TikTok reportedly reached about 9 million views, a figure I have only seen in that one report, and argued some non-sponsors drew more headlines than official partners.

I have spent my career telling brands they are participants in culture, not advertisers to it. Levi's acted like a participant. It skipped the complaint and played along in public, which made the brand look in on the joke while keeping its name in the conversation. That is Go Above and Beyond applied to a rule. Every non-sponsor complied, and Levi's did the required thing and then gave people something extra to share.

When a bigger player sets the rules, how you comply still sends a message. A shop told to take down its sidewalk sign during a street festival can turn the empty spot into a joke its regulars repost.

The joke works because you are following the rule, so keep it that way. Have legal look at the post first, and skip anything that could read as ambush marketing against the official sponsors.

Send your CEO's letter and your company becomes the grump in a story everyone else is enjoying.

Parody letter inspired by reporting from NBC Sports Bay Area and Marketing Magazine. The letter writer is fictional.

Office Hours How to Reply to a Review You Hate

A reply can turn a review into a much bigger story than the review itself. I give every team the same checklist, and it works for a one-star rant or a lukewarm three:

1. Wait before you write. If you are angry, draft it, then have someone else read it before it posts.
2. Thank them for something specific. The latte or the patio. It shows the next reader you actually read the review.
3. Make your point once, calmly. If you disagree, say what you stand for in one sentence and skip the argument.
4. Offer a private next step. An email or phone number, so the rest of the conversation happens off the page.
5. Keep it shorter than the review. Length reads as heat.

Every reply is written for the next customer, the one deciding whether it is safe to complain to you. Leave your ego at the door and bring your work ethic instead.

The Office of WTF Verdicts

The thread this week: In all three stories, the first response set the tone, and every extra word after it carried a cost. Say what you need to say once, to the people who need it most, and let the work do the rest.

Every letter comes back to owning the next choice. That is the heart of Dragons & Doors, my parable about accountability. If one of these letters felt familiar, the book goes deeper.