This made me consider the problem relying on shitstorms for feedback. The problem might be unrelated (for example, this might have been engineered in advance as a way of minimizing the negative reception of the decision).

That is, in sufficiently large consumer bases, is it safe to rely on shitstorms for negative feedback on business decisions?

Some groups have outspoken representatives that can get the word out there so that it can snowball into something that can be noticed.

However, what if the average emotional response to the decision had been the same, but no shitstorm was raised? Does it happen often? In what conditions?