Google graphics search results for crisis communications pr infographic turns up much encapsulated free advice, but how much is applicable?
Ayish and Kruckeberg cite Starck and Kruckerberg (1991) in noting that “we can never fully escape out own culture in understanding other cultures” and this struck a chord, given much we have learned this semester. Oddly, I didn’t find it had much to do with the case study at hand, of a UAE oil company exhibiting at an Asian oil conference. At the same time, I also didn’t see their case study as much of a case study, and certainly not a case study in crisis communication, this week’s topic. Far more real estate was devoted to describing much of the background and what the company does in PR, but really very little about the conference activities – only that they had visitors to their booth and distributed literature and CDs and that the involved employees were satisfied.
The authors also acknowledged that more needed to be done, but the case study would’ve benefited by indicating what else was done at the show. Were business cards collected, were follow ups part of the plan? Were business meetings also scheduled or hospitality suites also hosted? If none were true, that should’ve been mentioned at all. This did remind me of one of the textbook mentions we had read about earlier in the course, where it was emphasized that Russians participated in global conferences and exhibitions to gain market share. In this case, though, ADNOC is the largest player in Abu Dhabi, with over 90% of its daily output in a world where the UAE has almost 10% of the world’s total reserves. Small but not insignificant, the company’s emphasis on the conference and the focus of the case study itself should’ve been in terms of concrete goals.
Culbertson, on the other hand, did a good job of rounding up the action steps taken by the National Labor Committee and its leader, Kernaghan as well as by others. Where it fell short, I thought, was its section called Social Context. It was, in my eyes, too subjectively written. Word choice felt less academic and more op-ed. The topic is an important one, for sure, but the fact that it is still an active topic, speaks to how little exploited foreign labor means to Americans. Perhaps the term “crisis communications” only applies if it is your company or organization suffering from a crisis?
Out of curiosity I looked up the National Labor Committee. It collaborated with the United Steelworkers of American and one senator to write the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act, which would “"prohibit the import, export, and sale of goods made with sweatshop labor, and for other purposes." The bill was introduced in 1006, and again in 2007 and unfortunately died in committee and never became law. Had it been passed, major change would have been effected by Kernaghan’s efforts. Instead, the NLC became the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights in 2011 and sadly suspended operations in 2017.
But the cause lives on. While reading the 1999 case study, I couldn’t help but think about how social media could be and has been harnessed on behalf of this cause. I remember seeing coverage about a note written by a Chinese prisoner that was found in a handbag bought at Walmart in 2017. This Vox piece not only recapped the story and reminded readers that notes of this kind often stir up outrage but don’t change corporate outsourcing or American purchasing habits, but also had the writer go to China to investigate. The article also recapped another story about clothing stores in UK which had these notes appear, although they were orchestrated and planted by activists. The bigger purpose, though, is to raise awareness. In the case with Walmart, the company launched an internal investigation, found the factory didn’t comply with its voluntary labor standards, and cut ties. It is disappointing that decades have passed since Culbertson’s case study was written and third world exploited labor is still an issue, although the growing movement for responsible and socially conscious manufacturing on the one hand, and the ability to harness the power of social media on the other may continue to make incremental impact. Annually, the International Labour Organization promotes World Day Against Child Labour on social media, which raises further awareness. I didn’t follow through to see if it has ever led to concrete outcomes but this 2012 piece which asks if such campaigns can end child labor specifically mentions chocolate. While we would hope that more specifically targeted campaigns than the ILO’s might make a difference, it is sad to see it hasn’t. This 2019 piece notes that Hershey, Nestle and Mars all broke their pledge to end child labor and this one from only a few months ago notes that child labor on West Africa cocoa farms has increased over the past decade.
"You buy a purse at Walmart. There’s a note inside from a 'Chinese prisoner.' Now what?" from Vox
The next case study looked at how the Nigerian government used public relations tactics to counter the bad press they had after convicting activist Saro-Wiwa and eight others for murder and hanging them. The author concluded that the government hadn’t had a crisis communications plan in place in the event of backlash, and that may very well have been true, but according to the BBC, Abacha was so insulated, he had no idea Western leaders were trying to reach out to him to ask for clemency. It was also only in the conclusion that the author introduced the other factors that compounded the negative international perception that the military government had already had in place prior to the hanging. The case study painted a picture, but it wasn’t a complete picture. And the picture has certainly changed since.
In some respects, it was only a matter of time for outrage to take a back seat to resumption of relations. In the end, as that BBC article noted, UK and US considered but didn’t carry out an oil embargo and Nigeria was readmitted to Commonwealth in May 1999, when the civilian government assumed power. As well, the EU arms embargo was lifted six months later. Since then, as well, US consumption of pure Nigerian oil decreased greatly as it discovered its own shale oil. Now Nigeria supplies other countries more, as this 2019 article explains.
From Ogbondah’s perspective, crisis communications were not carried out as they should have been; he saw them as two one-sided and coming too late. While I did think the idea of having the chiefs’ wives speak out made sense, his point is a valid one in that having crisis communications plans in place is always important. They can be generic for unanticipated crises and tailored for major activities of campaigns as needed. Good risk management demands forethought. But similarly to how the NLC’s campaign against child labor hasn’t wrought across-the-board change in the trajectory of big business and the use of exploited labor years later, if we look back at Nigerian international relations or oil sales per the articles cited above, it appears as if the country is where it would’ve been had they not executed Saro-Wiwa or had the government not embarked on a PR campaign.
US consumption of Nigerian oil over time, taken from https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTIMUSNI1&f=M
Daugherty’s coverage of the Nicaraguan manufacturer working for the Taiwanese company showcased the advisory kind of role that a PR professional can take on. Beyond merely putting a positive face to facts in the news, here staff travelled onsite, observed first hand, met with relevant decision-makers, implemented changes and was able to respond to public allegations in a way that saved face and saved business. Of course, had the factory been one of those that was breaking labor laws, it might not have been so easy and the situation would’ve come in the face of an actual crisis. As it was, the steps taken were preemptive – in order to ensure no backlash took place due to allegations without verifiability.
The last article, from Simons (2014), addresses the definition of crisis – which, as I pointed out regarding the above case studies, doesn’t always seem to be appropriately applied. After noting that crises cannot be anticipated but must be planned for, the author describes the common characteristics of crises: “There are three different elements of perception that need to be simultaneously managed by decision makers in order to declare a phenomenon a crisis: first, the threat to basic values; second, a sense of urgency; and third, the issue of uncertainty” (p. 583). He also recaps how the former director of communications recaps the typical media response: Mayhem, Mastermind, Manhunt, and Epilogue. It would seem to me that in this era of cancel culture, the public leapfrogs over the media to the Manhunt stage. The author also points out the difference between managing information and managing reading. Tying it together is his contention that selling war as a response can be sold as a crisis when the communicator is selling meaning and not information. One could also call this manipulation.
International Crisis Group uses the three elements of perception to frame conflicts as crises in order to sell government intervention or to keep older conflicts on the political radar. Given they get (or at least got in 2012) 44% of their budget from the government, this feels a bit slimy to me. But the author notes that more research ought to be one to see to what extent ICG is successful in either persuading international policy makers or served as a tool to legitimatize Western policy makers.
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From VanSlyke, J. and Scanlan, L.H. (1999) Fifteen Case Studies in International Public Relations, The Evolution of Public Relations: Case Studies from Countries in Transition. Gainesville, FL: Institute for Public Relations, University of Florida:
· Ayish, M. & Kruckeberg, D. “Abu Dhabi National Oil Company”
· Culbertson, H.M. “Giving Two Hundred Million Kids a Childhood”
· Ogbondah, C.W. “The Ogoni Inferno and Fire Fighters: Has the Government’s Public Relations Campaign Extinguished the Flame?”
· Daugherty, E.L. “Sewing Up a Torn Image: Hill & Knowlton Responds to a Crisis in the Garment Industry”
· Simons, G. (2014). The International Crisis Group and the manufacturing and communicating of crises. Third World Quarterly. 35(4) 581-597.