Media Project 2
Blog #2
For my Media Project 2 blog I really want to dive in on the Image Repair Theory and the positive and negative effects it can have on crises. Interning with a logistics company as well as a real estate company has really opened my eyes to the way crisis management works. Image repair theory is all about repairing damage when a company or organization is met with someone trying to damage the image of the brand. For example in 2014 Victoria Secret launched a campaign with the catchphrase of, “The Perfect Body.” This caused major backlash as the image had multiple Victoria Secret models on the cover. Since the models were very thin and perfect it caused an uproar. “People saw this as damaging to self-esteem and women’s health while promoting eating disorders and unhealthy dieting.” (etactics.com) When Victoria Secret got a whiff of the intense backlash they immediately came out with a response. They changed the motto to “A Body for Every Body,” which was a step in the right direction, but they never swapped the image out. They used the image repair theory by taking responsibility and reducing the offensiveness of the event.
Tommy Erwin who is graduating from Mizzou in the fall with a finance degree let me interview him and get some insight of some image repair theory the company he works for has dealt with. Tommy is heavily involved in the real estate industry and has become well versed in the in’s and out’s of it all. The company he works for, Ranger Real Estate, is new to the real estate game, but is not new to having to implement the image repair theory. Tommy said that his first hand experience with having image damaging issues to the company is when people are simply impatient or unsatisfied with how slow or intricate the process is going. Sometimes bad reviews are given or bad rumors are spread which can be hard on a company. “Our company is more of the in-between guy in the real estate business because we help people get houses they don’t want off their hands and sell them to someone else. With leases, contracts, etc. the timeline and process can often be tricky. Many people don’t understand that since there are many parties involved in the process of swapping or buying houses, therefore many customers become easily frustrated.
“In one specific incident we got a bad review based on something that was just a time issue and it was posted publicly on Facebook which damaged our reputation in a way. Our response was to address the problem as well as post an apology and explain our side of the story as well as the issue.” In this situation it is important to hear the complaints while addressing them as well. It is apparent that the image repair theory was used in this situation to try to fix the backlash that the company faced. Overall there are so many different ways to handle backlash, but the image repair theory has a step by step system to help tackle backlash like this.
Sources:
- https://etactics.com/blog/organizations-with-negative-brand-images
- Crisis and Risk book
