Brandy Melville is a popular clothing brand for women but is known for only promoting skinny white girls on social media. The brand utilizes the country club approach for brand promotion by making it exclusive to only certain body figures (VanSlette & Wayme, 2016).
The brand only has “one size fits all” but they are known for it only to fit slim body types.
ExxonMobil has received criticism for fracking. They have taken the approach of showing the environmentally safe things they do as a company and educating the public on the benefits of fracking. They have consistently reassured the public of their understanding and “addressed” their concerns despite not being fully transparent about "energy efficiency".
It is important for a PR team to acknowledge the problem. Being proactive in educating the public on the benefits of fracking and the efforts Exxonmobil takes to care for the environment is crucial for the PR team to implement.
Image Restoration When Crisis Strikes
Seaworld faced a lot of backlash for animal abuse after an orca killed a trainer, and then the film Blackfish came out. Many other organizations ended partnerships with Seaworld and they had to work on rebuilding their image.
Seaworld had to go into defensive mode to try and rebuild their reputation. After being in defensive mode for a while Seaworld came out with a campaign to where people could “Ask Seaworld” the hot topic questions (Duhon, Ellison & Ragas, M. W, 2016). It is an interesting PR move to have a hub where people can go and ask daunting questions about the organization. Most felt “Ask Seaworld” felt like a bandaid.
In January 2015 the NFL and Tom Brady underwent allegations of using a deflated football to skew the outcome of the game. Both the NFL organization and Brady had to take reactive approaches to try and prove they were wrongfully accused of doing so.
The NFL decided to suspend Brady for four games without pay for the upcoming season (Strawser, Shain, Thompson, Vulich & Simons, 2017). This was a difficult decision because it could make NFL viewers upset that their favorite player could be wrongfully accused and have to miss out on games.
The NFL and Brady could not risk ruining its reputation over a deflated football so taking steps to shift the focus off the Deflatgate and focus on more positive things in the organization was crucial.
All in all, it is vital for a PR team to be proactive in looking for ways to keep a strong reputation and have a plan in place to best address how to restore the organization when a crisis does strike. Ultimately, reputation and image restoration are key things Pr practitioners must be able to be experts on for their organization.
Duhon, S., Ellison, K., & Ragas, M. W. (2016). A whale of a problem: A strategic communication analysis of SeaWorld Entertainment’s multi-year Blackfish crisis. Case Studies in Strategic Communication, 5, 3-37. Available online: http://cssc.uscannenberg.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/v5art2.pdf
Strawser, M. G., Shain, S., Thompson, A., Vulich, K., & Simons, C. (2017). Deflated: The strategic impact of the “Deflategate” scandal on the NFL and its golden boy. Case Studies in Strategic Communication, 6, 62-88. Available
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