Problematic PR
From your reading, you know that public relations campaigns are meant to “create a good will” toward a product, person, event, or idea. And sometimes PR is needed when the marketing/advertising for a product, person, event, or idea misfires, causing a backlash.
Read about the two recent PR “disasters” below. Then address the questions that follow. YOU MUST ANALYZE BOTH CASES IN YOUR ANSWER.
Case 1: PR issues surrounding Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day photo
The British royal family released a photo of the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, and her children on March 13, in honor of Mother’s Day in the U.K. But shortly after the picture came out, it went viral because it looked altered. There were some inconsistencies with the clothing and the children’s hair in the photo. It prompted a public relations disaster for the palace and made people wonder what was really going on with Princess Kate. She apologized to the public a few days later and said that she had edited the picture herself. But that was not enough to silence the rumors that the palace was hiding something. On March 20, the palace released a video of the princess speaking out about her cancer diagnosis which had been discovered following her abdominal surgery in January. (Source: NPR News)
Questions:
- How did the palace’s PR effort influence your opinion of the princess? Did it help or hurt her image? Why?
- What steps could the PR pros have taken to better handle this situation?
- Describe how you would have handled the situation differently.
Case 2: PR issues surrounding Shein
Clothing brand Shein took a group of influencers to Guangzhou, China, in June last year. The aim was to show them how the clothes and accessories are produced and help the influencers produce “behind the scenes” videos of the brand to make it look authentic and trendy and gain more buyers. The influencers were unaware of Shein’s exploitative labor practices that involved using child labor and environmentally unfriendly products. They interviewed laborers at the warehouse who told them that they were happy with their work conditions, and the influencers accepted these remarks without question. After their return to the U.S., when the influencers posted videos praising Shein, their followers criticized and ridiculed them for failing to ask pertinent questions of the brand.
Questions:
- How did Shein’s PR efforts influence your opinion of the brand? (Please read up more about this case if you need more information to answer this question).
- If you were an influencer who had posted positive material about Shein and received criticism from your followers, how would you react? What steps would you take to handle the situation?
- If you were an influencer who had been invited to visit Shein’s warehouse in China, how would you have handled the situation? What would you have done to make sure you created authentic content for your followers?
Requirements:
In order to receive credit for this assignment, please write at least 250 words. Incorporate concepts from the textbook where possible. Submit your response to this prompt on the discussion board by Sunday.
These assignments are graded out of 50 points. We will look at the quality of the responses to give you points.
Your graduate teaching assistants will grade your assignment based on the following rubric:
- Response answers each part of the prompt thoroughly with thoughtful, complete/coherent sentences that incorporate concepts from the chapter readings and assigned supplemental materials. 50 points
- Response answers each part of the prompt but is incomplete or too short, has several errors of grammar, spelling, or punctuation, includes only a references to chapter concepts or supplemental materials. 40 – 49 points
- Response does not answer the prompt or is missing elements of the prompt, has multiple errors of grammar, spelling, or punctuation, does not reference chapter concepts or supplemental materials. 30 – 39 points
- Response does not answer the prompt in any thoughtful way, has so many errors of grammar, spelling, or punctuation that the response is incoherent, does not reference chapter concepts or supplemental materials. 20 – 29 points
Professor is very picky about AI or plagirasm. Please be careful on that.
