Baseball's Steroid Era put many different high-profile athletes under pressure to explain steroid allegations that were made against them. This thesis used textual analysis of news reports and media portrayals of the athletes, along with analysis of their image repair strategies to combat those allegations, to determine how successful the athletes were in changing public opinion as evidenced through the media. The contexts, media reports, and strategies of Jason Giambi, Mark McGwire, Andy Pettitte, and Roger Clemens were analyzed and revealed important implications involving effective use of image repair strategies. They provided a deeper framework for the success of mortification strategies. An authentic, sincere mortification strategy has more power to change the media's reporting and portrayal of the athlete, while stunted or incentivized mortification strategies provide diminishing results. The four different situations of the players and the different combinations of strategies used provide insight into how much a public persona matters in confronting allegations. They show how ineffective the strategy of minimization is against allegations that involve on-field performance. The situations reveal how the promise of future on-field actions, along with actual on-field success can help repair an athlete's image without a solid rhetorical strategy. They show the amount of information offered, along with the strategies used, influences the amount of persuasion that occurs. The different situations also showed how a complete image repair strategy is successful in ending news coverage of the allegations and not just changing the media portrayal.

The Volkswagen emissions scandal is one of the largest CSR crises in recent times given its scope and severity. From the outset, the manner in which Volkswagen has addressed the crisis and how it is going to be solved has been subject to public scrutiny. This study set out to examine the crisis communication in Volkswagen’s sustainability magazine Shift from 2016 featuring Volkswagen together with some of its internal and external stakeholders like the management and customers to find out what strategies were used by the company to repair its reputation and to assess the success of these strategies. Additionally, of interest was to compare the viewpoints of external stakeholders to that of Volkswagen, while also to investigate what kind of actors and opinions of the crisis that were presented. To answer these questions, a strategic selection of texts from the magazine were analysed through a qualitative text analysis. The theoretical perspectives consisted of the two crisis communication theories of image repair theory and situational crisis communication theory. The findings of the study indicate that the strategies used by Volkswagen to address the crisis do not seem very successful in general. Even if the most common strategy by Volkswagen is to discuss potential solutions to the crisis, these solutions are mainly oriented towards solving the crisis in a long-term perspective through a development of new vehicles. The biggest difference in comparison to external stakeholders is that they instead seem more concerned with solving the crisis in a shorter perspective through increased compensation to customers, for instance. Another finding is that a preference for more elitist stakeholders in the magazine could be due to a strategic choice by Volkswagen to avoid unfavourable reviews and use leaders as a tool for inspiring change. The main conclusion of the study is that work still needs to be done before Volkswagen can claim to have achieved a shift in the company’s sustainability communication. To do so, Volkswagen needs to take more responsibility for the crisis and to pay even more attention to the opinions of its different stakeholder groups.

Representation has become a buzzword in the advertising industry. With more consumers asking for brands to represent more diverse people in advertisements, this study examined cases when representation in advertisements received negative feedback. By examining three cases where brands received negative feedback after the release of an ad, the researcher explored perceptions and reactions toward the representation of Black people in advertisements. This study conducted a thematic analysis of popular press and trade publications to look for themes among the three cases. With the use of Critical Race Theory and Image Repair Theory, the researcher aimed to fill a gap in research by investigating the perceived problems and reactions towards negative advertisements. The perceived problem in the ads explored in this study was that the ads were Racist. The sub-themes Skin Color and Proximity explained how racism manifested in each ad. Themes that were found relating to public reaction were: Questioning, Multiple Mishaps, Denouncing the Brand, and Solutions to the Problem. Knowing your Customers was the singular theme identified regarding the advertising industry. The themes found when examining brand’s reactions were: Apologizing, Unintentional Representation, Pulling the Advertisement, and Examining Internal Processes.

Uppsatsen behandlar vårdföretaget Carema Cares två bloggar som skapades i och med krisen som uppstod kring företaget år 2011. Detta görs genom en granskning av argumentationen Carema Care för på bloggarna utifrån kriskommunikationsstrategier och retoriska strategier.

In this study, a qualitative rhetorical analysis is done on U.S. president Donald Trump’s crisis communication on Hurricane Maria, which was an Atlantic hurricane that struck areas such as Puerto Rico and Dominica in the autumn of 2017. Given that the former is an unincorporated territory of the U.S., the need for effective relief measures by the Trump administration became of particular importance there. However, in the media, the actual response by the administration was widely criticised as being slow and inefficient by actors like the relief group Oxfam and the humanitarian organisation Refugees International. Therefore, this study critically evaluates Trump’s crisis communication strategies on the hurricane to assess their success. The material consists of statements by Trump in both traditional and social media through official remarks and tweets, which are analysed through the crisis communication theories of image repair theory and situational crisis communication theory. In doing so, of interest is also to examine whether any differences can be seen in the strategies used by Trump in these two kinds of media channels. To address the hurricane, the findings showed that Trump mainly used the crisis communication strategies of corrective action, bolstering, defeasibility and attack accuser from image repair theory and compensation, reminder, ingratiation, excuse and attack the accuser from situational crisis communication theory. Moreover, no distinctive differences were found in which strategies Trump used in the respective channels, even if the attacks on Twitter were often more aggressive. While both positive and negative evaluations could be made of how Trump used these strategies overall, the main conclusion of the study is that his crisis communication was largely ineffective due to the strategies sometimes being contradictory and inconsistent.

As social media becomes a more important part of people’s everyday lives, it is also becoming a more important part of the corporate market. Due to the complaints received on social media sites, some forms of customer care are being directly, or indirectly, carried out on social media. Part of this customer care is apologizing in response to complaints. The purpose of this case study is therefore to examine the apologies, apology strategies and expressions of regret employed when apologizing in response to customer complaints on Twitter by the two airlines Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA and Air France. The aim of the study is to compare the different forms, and frequencies, of the apologies, apology strategies and expressions of sympathy/regret the companies employ to apologize. This is done through examining tweets from both airlines and looking at the use of certain keywords, as well as through analysis of the tweets in context. The results are then related to image repair theory and politeness theory. The most significant findings show a clear preference for certain Illocutionary Indication Devices, and strategies within each airline. Moreover, there is a clear difference in how the two airlines use Twitter to communicate with their customers, with Air France employing a more cohesive style, than Norwegian.

The BP Deepwater Horizon crisis in 2010 was one the largest catastrophes in the history of the oil industry. BP was sued over the disaster, and lost several billion dollars. This study examines the crisis response strategies and/or image repair strategies, which can be found in BP's press releases following the Deepwater Horizon crisis. In particular, the study looks closer at what established crisis communication strategies could be discerned in the material, and how they are used discursively. The theories used were the Image Repair Theory (IRT) and the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). The results show that BP utilized a number of different established crisis response strategies and/or image repair strategies in their crisis communication work in the press releases. These strategies were concern, corrective action, ingratiation, transcendence, differentiation, denial, shifting the blame/scapegoating, defeasibility, compassion and attacking the accuser. They were used discursively by the CEO by expressing sympathy, promising that a similar event will never happen again, by stating appreciation for and praising the leadership of the U.S. President and public sector. What is more, it is used by describing in detail how the solution process progresses, by stating what the causes of the crisis were, by describing other involved actors' lack of taking responsibility and by establishing a fraud hotline. The main conclusions of the study are that BP used several crisis strategies in their press release s, though rather inconsistently. Additionally, BP used the strategies in an ambiguous manner, and changed strategies over time. Lastly, one main conclusion is also that a company is prepared to utilize crisis communication strategies in their practical communications work, though not entirely in the way prescribed by the theories.

This essay is a qualitative study where the theory of face and image repair theory evaluate the apologetic strategy of a pudel. The analysed data is from Swedish former Members of Parliament that had to leave their positions due to scandals they were involved in that affected them personally. The analysis shows that the image repair strategy of bolstering is commonly used, that bolstering poses a threat on the speaker’s positive face, and that bolstering is a jeopardising move when attempting to perform a pudel. This study also confirms that when executed successfully, a pudel could restore image and be a successful face-saving strategy. The results also detect the need to further research on how linguistics and rhetoric can cooperate to make more thorough analyses of speech acts. / Denna uppsats är en kvalitativ studie där teorin om face och image repair analyserar och utvärderar den kommunikativa strategin pudeln. Det analyserade datat kommer från pressmeddelanden, presskonferenser och officiella Facebookmeddelanden från svenska riksdagspolitiker som på grund av en skandal behövt lämna sin ledamotsroll i Sveriges Riksdag. Resultatet påvisar att strategin bolstering inom image repair teorin, är vanligt förekommande, att samma strategi utgör ett ansiktshot på den person som använder sig av den strategin och att om man inte lyckas med sin bolstering, riskerar man att inte rädda sitt ansikte eller anseende. Studien visar också på att en lyckad tillämpning av pudeln kan rädda en persons anseende och ansikte. Resultaten i studien öppnar även upp för framtida undersökning, och påvisar att lingvistiska teorier och retoriska teorier kan komplettera varandra vid mer ingående analyser av talakter.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The importance of image management has created the need to for organizations to continually work in order to improve their image or defend it against perceived threats. Since organizations engage in a constant struggle to preserve their reputation, it is important to understand the persuasive discourse associated with image repair strategies. In addition, a successful rhetor must also acknowledge the importance of perception of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the apologetic discourse from the perspective of an audience. Focus groups were conducted and analyzed in order to better understand the perceived appropriateness and effectiveness of the image repair strategies employed by the Big Three Automakers as perceived by the audience. The findings of this study complement the original findings of Benoit and Drew’s quantitative study assessing the appropriateness and effectiveness of image repair strategies in an interpersonal setting. However, there were observable differences between the studies in terms of the perception of both the appropriateness and effectiveness of bolstering and the effectiveness of differentiation. The implications of these differences can be important in developing a better understanding of the utilization of image repair strategies in the apologetic discourse of organizations. Specifically, the results demonstrate how the audience determines the appropriateness and effectiveness of the strategies and how rhetors are able to successfully use different strategies based in context.

2023 kunde Aftonbladet avslöja en granskning med motsägande information kring H&Ms annars utstickande hållbarhetsarbete. Det framkom i granskningen att H&Ms klädinsamling som har kommit till att bli den största i världen inte återanvänder eller återvinner kläderna på det sättet som utlovas och att flera av plaggen hamnar på platser, som världens värsta dumpningsplats i Benin. Krisen utifrån ett kommunikationsperspektiv blir således intressant att undersöka för att se hur ett multinationellt företag som H&M kriskommunicerar när deras annars utstickande varumärkesprofilering som grön ledande aktör på marknaden ifrågasätts. Följande studie syftar därav till att undersöka varumärket H&Ms kriskommunikation via tre uttalanden kring denna kris av vdn Helena Helmersson. Detta kommer göras med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys för att besvara studiens två forskningsfrågor och uppfylla studiens syfte. Analysen använder Image repair theory och Situational crisis communication theory för att analysera studiens material genom att koda och kategorisera. Begreppet greenwashing applicerades vidare för att kunna synliggöra kommunikationens budskap. Studien kom fram till att Helmersson inte använder sig av de rekommenderade försvarsstrategierna utan använder sig istället av enkelt förnekande, goda avsikter, bolstering, hänvisa till ett högre syfte och attack. Vidare kom studien vidare fram till att Helmerssons kriskommunikation kan förstås i dimensionera av greenwashing som ett underliggande budskap.