This study aims to see how H&M are using crisis communication through Facebook to investigate if they are able to contain their reputation and trustworthiness during and after crisis. This has been done by a quantitative content analysis and the qualitative critical discourse analysis with Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model. The study is based on theories relating to crisis communication, brand preservation, ethnicity and rhetoric. The study has been conducted on an official statement H&M made on its Facebook page where 579 comments were analyzed. In the quantitative analysis, three themes emerged from which qualitative research took its starting point to prevent the occurrence of subjective interpretations of the material. In the qualitative analysis, these themes developed and deployed in the categories racism, defense and insultment with subsequent subcategories. These themes were analyzed further in relation to the theoretical framework. H&Ms statement and answers have been analyzed separately. The study found that crises based on trust such as this children's collection probably trigger harder against smaller companies that are more dependent on reputation and credibility than world- leading clothing companies like H&M.

In the 10s, the researcher and surgeon Paolo Macchiarini was employed at Karolinska Institutet and the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. When Swedish Television published a documentary series in 2016 about Paolo Macchiarini, it revealed several scandals linked to his activities at the units that led them to crisis. Shortly thereafter, suspicions were raised against Paolo Macchiarini for research fraud and unethical operations, which he was later convicted for in the Supreme Court in 2023. This study aims to investigate Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital's external crisis communication regarding the Macchiarini case through a rhetorical content analysis. The purpose of the study is to find out whether the units communicated during the crisis to repair their trust through the defense strategies Image Repair Theory, apologia, situational crisis communication theory and the rhetorical appeal forms ethos, pathos and logos. The analysis will be based on all articles published by the units via their own websites between 2017 and 2024, with the study's theoretical framework as a basis. The study's analysis and results show that Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital have largely used various crisis management strategies in the published articles in accordance with Image Repair Theory, apologia, situational crisis theory as well as the forms of appeal. The result of the study shows that Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital frequently use strategies to repair their reputation by separating themselves from Macchiarini and use fact-based arguments such as external investigations as a base for their facts in their crisis communication. Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital, at the same time show several actions taken within Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital to improve and ensure that something similar does not happen again. The results of the study also show that Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital have been open and transparent in their communication. / Under 10-talet anställdes forskaren och läkaren Paolo Macchiarini vid Karolinska Institutet samt Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset i Stockholm, Sverige. När Sveriges Television publicerade en dokumentärserie 2016 gällande Paolo Macchiarini avslöjades flertalet skandaler kopplade till hans verksamhet vid enheterna som ledde dem till kris. Det uppdagades kort därefter misstanke gentemot Paolo Macchiarini för forskningsfusk samt oetiska operationer, vilket han senare under 2023 kom att dömas för i Högsta Domstol. Denna studie ämnar således att undersöka Karolinska Institutet samt Karolinska Universitetssjukhusets externa kriskommunikation gällande Macchiarinifallet genom en kvalitativ retorisk innehållsanalys. Syftet med studien är att ta reda på huruvida enheterna kommunicerat under krisen för att reparera sitt anförtroende genom försvarsstrategierna Image Repair Theory, apologia, situational crisis communication theory samt de retoriska appellformerna ethos, pathos och logos. Analysen kommer baseras på samtliga artiklar som enheterna publicerat via deras egna webbsidor mellan perioden 2017 till och med 2024, med studiens teoretiska ramverk som grund. Studiens analys samt resultat visar på att Karolinska Institutet samt Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset till stor del använt sig av olika krishanteringsstrategier i de publicerade artiklarna i enlighet med Image Repair Theory, apologia, situational crisis theory såväl som appellformerna. Studiens resultat visar på att Karolinska Institutet och Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset använder sig frekvent av strategier för att reparera deras anseende genom att särskilja sig själva från Macchiarini, och använder sig av faktabaserade argument som exempelvis externa utredningar som grund till sin fakta i sin kriskommunikation. Karolinska Institutet och Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset visar samtidigt på en rad åtgärder som införts inom Karolinska Institutet samt Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset för att förbättra samt att se till att något liknande inte händer igen. Studiens resultat visar även på att Karolinska Institutet och Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset varit öppen och transparant i sin kommunikation.

Crisis communication can make a crisis turn into a double crisis. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze by which rhetorical means a double crisis can occur. With the Swedish zoo Parken Zoo as a specific example, this essay examines the crisis communication during the crises that started with the tv-show Kalla fakta. The tv-show revealed that Parken Zoo killed and slaughtered endangered and sacred animals. When asked about the specific animals, the head of the zoo gave different answers – which contrasted with former employees testimony. The essay aim to find how the chosed strategies could affect the company’s ethos. The episode of Kalla fakta is studied. Also a press release from Parken Zoo and a letter posted on Facebook from the head of the Zoo is examined. To find which rhetorical strategies that are communicated the paper uses the theory of status, Benoits apologia theory and Bitzers theory about the rhetorical situation. The method used is rhetorical criticism. The results include the crisis communications accusations and answers. The conclusions of the thesis is that the contrast between evidence and Parken Zoo:s statements results in a loss of trust for the company. Parken Zoo also, in some cases, fortify the accusations with their answers. The local authorities owns the zoo, but they are absent in the crisis communication. This leads to a confusion regarding who is responsible.

In early January 2018, the clothing company H&M released a new collection for children. One of the sweaters in the collection was printed with the text "Coolest monkey in the jungle". The shirt was worn by a dark-skinned child and H&M was accused of racism. This is because the word "monkey" has historically been used as a racist slur to downgrade dark-skinned people. Throughout the scandal H&M has published an official press release, as well as a number of posts on social media, each of which affects the scandal. The purpose of the study is to analyze H&Ms crisis communication with regard to the strategies they used during the shirt scandal. The main question of the study is how did H&M's crisis communication express itself in text during the shirt scandal. The theories used in the study are William Benoit's image repair theory (2014) and Timothy Coombs Situational crisis communication theory (2007), abbreviated SCCT. The methods used are a qualitative content analysis, text analysis and a rhetorical analysis. The qualitative content analysis is based on the chosen theories, so that the survey can extract the underlying message that H&M wants to convey. While the text analysis processes the text itself and how the company wants the reader to perceive the message and how H&M’s texts interact with each other. The rhetorical analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of the text's underlying message and structure with the actual text as a starting point. The rhetorical analysis is done by analysing the text’s structure with the rhetoric disposition scheme as a starting point. H&M’s crisis communication is in this case related to what is proposed in the strategic theories of crisis communication. The main crisis communication strategies used by H&M were admitting responsibility, asking for forgiveness and corrective actions. The rhetoric analysis has shown that the press release and posts on social media have different functions. The press release make greater importance to the structure of the disposition scheme, while the social media posts rather contain certain parts, for example, a greater focus on pathos and the preparatory of counter arguments while communicating to individuals rather than the public.