Corporate Communication & Crisis

Media Management
Image Repair Theory
 Image: Subjective evaluation & impression of Business.

 Crisis Situation:
 (a) An Offensive Act
 (b) An accused responsible for the act
 Reputation Management – Brand Image may get severely hit

 Image Repair Theory : Utilizes message strategies to communicate with

affected public when responding to crisis situations
Image Restoration Strategies
 1. Denial

 2. Evasion of Responsibilities

 3. Reducing Offensiveness of the Event

 4. Corrective Actions

 5. Mortification
Denial
 Simple Denial: Denial That any wrong doing took place

 Shift of Blame: Admits some wrong doing occurred but shifts the
responsibility by blaming another person or organization
 Evasion of Responsibilities
 Provocation: When organizations respond to an act of another company &
claims that a negative event happened in response to something else

 Defeasibility: Claims not enough information or ability existed in the system to do

anything about the event

 Accident: Claims it was beyond the control of the company

 Good Intention: Claims company’s intentions were good whereas results

couldn’t be toned
Reducing Offensiveness of the event
 Bolstering: describing positive acts done by the company

 Minimization: Downplaying the severity of the offensive event itself to minimize negative
feelings attached

 Differentiation: Distinguishing the event from other similar events to in order to prevent
associating with other negative instances, making it feel less offensive

 Transcendence: Attempts to change the context of the event to position it more

favorably; outweighing positives over negatives

 Attack the Accuser: Damage the credibility of the source of attack to offset negative
opinions

 Compensation: Victim must be accepting and the public must deem the compensation
aceptable
Corrective Action

 A Company can choose to restore things the way they were

 Promise to prevent any similar future acts

Mortification
 The company confesses its wrong doing and asks for forgiveness and re-
patronization

 Admission of guilts opens the doors for lawsuits from victims