Breaches of Ethics

Rhett Gentry
MM 3103
Professor James Reppert
9/18/2019

Crisis Public Relations

     When any company releases an advertisement campaign, there is an opportunity for it to become influential - either positively or negatively. When negative feedback occurs, these companies have to decide how they can pull their image back together or rebuild their brand to discourage any negative thoughts towards them. The purpose of crisis public relations is ultimately to save the company and prevent an onslaught of customers boycotting them. Of recent times, here are some of the largest cases of crisis public relations where companies created controversy and are finding ways to keep their image favorable.

Nike and Colin Kaepernick 

     Nike tweeted a video on September 5, 2018, with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick as their spokesperson. This advertisement has gone on to win an Emmy this year for "Best Commercial". However, many things happened between now and then to make the commercial as esteemed as it is.

     

     First and foremost, you have to know Colin Kaepernick. Any google search can lend a wonderful hand in giving information on what has made him famous/infamous, however, the short story is that this man created a form of protest against police brutality of PoC by kneeling during the US National Anthem back in 2016. This made many Americans either strong supporters of Kaepernick for what he was protesting against and many enemies for the way he protested.

      

     Two years later, and suddenly he is the face of a large brand. This is the gamble for Nike: how many customers will they lose to this PR stunt? How many will they gain? In the beginning, stocks went down by 3.2% as #NikeBoycott was trending on Twitter. To many people, this became a political debate. Conservatives against Liberals; Republicans against Democrats; with the former against Nike and the latter supporters of Nike.

     Still, on the curtails of controversy, Nike donated money to Republican party leaders at a larger rate than Democrats. While some may think this is retroactive, their campaign to support both sides has seen their stocks steadily rise after the dip from the original commercial. Even the inclusion of the 'Betsy Ross' shoe seems to be winning people over, despite the controversy it may bring.

     In the end, the biggest contributor to Nike's success was to keep Kaepernick on their side. With the political climate swinging into PC culture as the modern standard of society, it is thought to be negative to disagree with statements that impact PoC. Nike's campaign made the topic a race debate and few influential people want to argue against it as to not appear racist. But overall, the commercial itself was good. The message it was supposed to send rings clear, "Any person can bring themselves up from hard times and difficult situations to become successful." By supporting a variety of people and standing by Kaepernick, they were able to successfully pull their brand together in the aftermath of the controversy.

Gillette: The Best Men Can Be

     Here we have another advertisement campaign that focuses on social issues and points at a specific group as the cause of these issues. Gillette decided that the issue was "Toxic Masculinity" and that the cause for the issue: Men. At least, that's what one could assume when reviewing the commercial. There was nothing truly positive about men in the video, and when almost 60% of their target market is men, things went downhill. 

     Proctor and Gamble, the company that owns the Gillette shaving business, took an $8 billion hit on their quarterly report after the advertisement campaign. Reports did show that the company was going to take a stand with its campaign but subsequently changed its marketing strategy as the Gillette stocks were steadily low after the commercial.

     The new marketing strategy is a series of advertisements about local heroes. This change in advertising results in positive commercials where no one feels targeted or attacked. Their Australian firefighter commercial can only bring positive feedback. It isn't controversial. It isn't the commercial of the year. It is wholesome and it is the image the company is now trying to convey.

Final Thoughts

     The biggest factor when speaking about crisis public relation is the causation. "What caused people to hate us?" "What could we have done to prevent this?" In the end, the biggest answer is to not embed your company into controversy. If your company's goal is to provide a cost-effective product to consumers and have a large target market, then it would be wise to not make any claims that could dissuade your consumers. 

     The point here is that it isn't wise for a company to create controversy over social issues. The feminist cafe that charged men a 'pink tax'? Closed, due to lack of consumers. Electronic Arts stating "Accept it, or don't buy the game" when their historically inaccurate, gender-diverse warfighter game came out? People didn't buy it.

     Its become apparent that good social media and advertising can enlighten customers. Positive feedback and wholesome content are in the now and it is hard to develop a negative response to that. In the end, controversy makes enemies, and no company should make enemies with their customers.