Abstract
When reports surfaced in 2016 of complications with Samsung’s latest product release, the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung faced a significant threat to its corporate image. This MRP explores Samsung’s traditional and social media crisis responses to the explosions of consumers’ Note 7 devices. Through an in-depth analysis of Samsung’s traditional media newspaper apology ads and press statements, coupled with audience comments about the brand on YouTube, this case study analyzes how the brand incorporated two prominent theories of crisis communication, Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) and Image Restoration Theory (IRT). Through a study of Samsung’s traditional crisis response, a newspaper apology advertisement and three website press statements, this case study uncovers which strategies of SCCT and IRT were practiced. Specifically, this research study highlights image restoration strategies such as corrective action, mortification, and minimization. Similarly, the corporation wrongfully employed diminish strategies, opposed to rebuild strategies which coupled with the vague language and inconsistency of the information shared in its communications response to emerge public reactions, with consumers refusing to purchase their products in the future. However, due to its high level of reputational capital as a world class smartphone distributor, in just nine months’consumers recommitted their loyalty to organisation had recuperated its once tarnished image.
Highlights
Introduction and Background OnAugust 19, 2016, Samsung faced a significant threat to its corporate image after global reports emerged revealing complications with its latest smartphone product, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7
While social media is capable of aiding organizations to offer greater clarity to concerned stakeholders, its precarious role in organizational crisis communication has left these entities more susceptible to impairment than ever before
By contextualizing which theories of crisis communication can be seen across these texts, one is able to evaluate whether Samsung’s response to the Note 7 crisis adhered to the appropriate crisis strategies recommended by academic literature for its crisis type
Summary
August 19, 2016, Samsung faced a significant threat to its corporate image after global reports emerged revealing complications with its latest smartphone product, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The Note 7 crisis remains a compelling case study as it seeks to expand academic insights into the delicacies of organizational crisis communication from traditional media to include the digital sphere. This Major Research Paper (MRP) seeks to examine crisis response strategies within the realm of organizational communication, the case of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. While social media is capable of aiding organizations to offer greater clarity to concerned stakeholders, its precarious role in organizational crisis communication has left these entities more susceptible to impairment than ever before
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