All Together Now

There have been countless public relations crises in the past and there are five steps that should be executed in order to properly manage a crisis. First, the corporation in crisis should be prompt, addressing the public immediately following the discovery of the crisis. Second, the corporation in question should maintain honesty because the public is more willing to forgive an honest mistake than a calculated lie. Third, it is important to be informative because the media as well as the public will create their own rumors if no information is given to them by the corporation in crisis. Rumors can cause significantly more damage to the corporation than the truth. Next, it is important to be concerned and show the public you care because people will be more forgiving if it is clear that the corporation cares about the victims of the crisis. Finally, maintain two-way relationships. This is important because the corporation can learn a lot about the status of public opinion by listening. These five steps are necessary in order to manage any crisis public relations situation.

With that having been said, each crisis situation is unique and, therefore, requires a tailored response. There are six types of responses and they range on a continuum from defensive to accommodative. First, corporations can attack the accuser attempting to eliminate the attacker’s credibility. Second, corporations can use denial claiming that no crisis exists. The third response is justification where the corporation claims no serious damage was done or that the victim was at fault. Fourth, the corporation can use ingratiation to appease the publics, such as giving away coupons. Next, corporations can use corrective action to right their wrongs. Finally, the corporation can give a full apology asking for forgiveness for their mistake. All six responses have been used in the past with varying results. If chosen properly, one of the six responses can help mitigate damage.

In March 2005, a woman bit into a finger while eating chili at Wendy’s. This crisis could have damaged Wendy’s image, but the corporation responded properly. They shut down the location, threw out the chili and had an investigation to discover the source of the finger. Wendy’s communicated with the public openly and honestly. As a result, very little damage was done to their image.

Other successful cases of crisis public relations include the well-known Diet Pepsi case and the Tylenol case. Diet Pepsi ran into trouble when consumers began “finding” foreign objects in cans of Diet Pepsi. A variety of different objects were found including a syringe, a bullet, and even a crack cocaine vial. The corporation knew that there was no possible way for these objects to be inserted during the bottling process. As a result, Diet Pepsi used a defensive strategy claiming its innocence. They communicated openly with the public, attacked the accusers, and allowed their bottling process to be shown on the news. Temporary damage had been done to Diet Pepsi, but they quickly rebounded from the situation. In a similar manner, Tylenol found itself in a crisis situation when people started dying from consuming cyanide laced Tylenol capsules. Tylenol acted quickly and pulled its product off the shelves without being forced to do so. They communicated openly and often with the public and had an investigation. Tylenol was found innocent at the conclusion of the investigation. Tylenol had a favorable brand image with the public because they pulled their product when they discovered the problem. Following the crisis, they even added safety seals to ensure the safety of its consumers.

While there are successful crisis public relations crises, there are a number of poor examples of crisis management. Ford and Firestone destroyed their images after mismanaging the crisis that occurred when many of their consumers died as a result of tire blowouts. Both companies claimed innocence and blamed the other. Ford and Firestone did not communicate openly or honestly with the public. Also, both corporations implied their lack of concern for their customers when they ignored the deaths and injuries of their customers to protect their bottom line. Ford’s and Firestone’s response to the crisis alienated their customers and caused significant damage to their image.

More recently, it seems the government has seen itself attempting to manage public relations crises, many of which could have been prevented. Dick Cheney found himself at the center of media attention when he shot his friend with a shot gun while hunting. He did not communicate with the public nor the administration in Washington about the incident until well after the incident had occurred. His actions made it appear to the public as though he were hiding something. When he finally addressed the public, it was too little too late. His mistake continues to be the foundation of many jokes to this day.

Additionally, the United Arab Emerites received the contract to protect many of America’s ports. This caused a crisis because many if not most Americans do not trust the UAE at this particular moment. In the eyes of many, Bush gave the job of protecting out ports to the enemy. Not to mention, he is perpetuating job outsourcing which makes Americans nervous. Protecting America’s ports should be America’s job. Also, Bush gave the UAE the contract at his discretion without consulting the public. He seems to have overstepped the system of checks and balances this country was founded on. Bush created an unnecessary crisis causing more negative public sentiment to be directed at his administration.

Other government flops have occurred in recent months, such as the failure to rescue Hurricane Katrina victims and Condoleezza Rice’s feud with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. These two crises caused more negative media attention on the Bush administration.

The Olympics always have their fair share of crises to handle. Athletes taking performance enhancing drugs has been an issue in recent times, not only in the Olympics, but major league baseball and other sports as well. During the Olympics in Torino, Austria’s ski team had their home raided by Italian police in an effort to discover drug use by the athletes. The police had probable cause to search because the team had been spending time with their ex-coach, Walter Mayer, who had been suspended for providing drugs to his athletes. Team Austria should have known that a visit from their ex-coach could have negative consequences such as this.

The most recent major pubic relations crisis involves Duke University and their lacrosse team. On March 13, the lacrosse team had a party with a stripper. Following the party, the stripper reported having been assaulted and raped. The fact that she was African American only made the school’s relationship with local residents, who are majority African American shakier than it already had been. Following the accusation, there is an ongoing investigation into the incident. 46 of the 47 players were forced to submit DNA and while no DNA was found on the stripper, the investigation continues. Days after the investigation began; one lacrosse player sent a horrible e-mail to team mates claiming that he would brutally kill the next stripper they had at a party. After the e-mail was discovered and released by the media, the lacrosse team’s head coach, Mike Pressler, resigned. The crisis is not over yet and continues to be discussed in the media.

No matter how much planning goes into preventing crises, there are always crisis situations that can not be planned for. Thankfully, Levick Communications exists to help corporations properly manage crisis situations. They have experience and success in the industry and were named crisis communications firm of the year by the Holmes Report. Richard Levick started the business in 1998 with the hope of helping people manage crises. Levick is a great company with great success. Maybe George Dubya could use some advice from Levick.

While Levick is experienced in crisis communication, technology is creating more ways for crises to occur. My Space.com got bad press when stories surfaced about young My Space users being stalked and harassed by sexual predators. This popular site is used by many young people and their safety has been a cause for concern. My Space is managing the situation well and plans to implement safety devices to prevent young people from being stalked by sexual predators. My Space is a new media and it is already managing crises.

Crisis public relations is changing. With new media, such as My Space and Facebook, crisis situations have occurred on the web. While products and services expand to new media, there are new ways for crises to emerge. At the same time, new media can be used to communicate with the public. Corporations no longer have to rely solely on tradition broadcast news or print advertising to properly manage a crisis. Corporations can now communicate with customers across the world using a number of different media such as e-mail, websites, podcasts, internet video, and more. With more ways to reach the public and the lower cost of reaching a higher number of people, crisis communications can communicate with the public in ways corporations never imagined during the 1980’s. While communication with the public is easier and cheaper than in the past, the original 5 steps to properly manage a crisis as well as the six types of responses continue to be at the foundation of any crisis public relations plan.