Crisis Management and Public Relations Strategies

Crisis Management and Public Relations Strategies

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Case Studies on Louis Vuitton, Miley Cyrus and PETA

Louis Vuitton (Fashion Brand)

The primary source of Louis Vuitton's success was the emergence of consumers with a desire in luxury, especially in emerging markets. However, the firm has made some decisions, which has seen consumers provide negative feedback. For instance, the company has introduced bags, which have logos. The logos have become the brands most visible symbol, and people have termed such a move as uncreative. Apparently, consumers termed the firm as a luxury brand; however, the company has been selling its bags to a mass-market. This has raised concern on the "luxury" aspect of the firm, and in response, Louis Vuitton increased the prices of its bags (Mull, 2013).

Louis Vuitton's bags

The firm has many competitors, and its move to increase prices made some of its consumers opt for other brands. Owing to this, the company experienced low growth sales. The logo-covered bags caused intense crisis for the company, and instead of cutting the logos, the firm increased the prices of the bags. This did not work well in restoring the consumers trust and loyalty in the brand. As if this was not enough, the firm encountered another crisis when a judge terminated Louis Vuitton's litigation against Warner Brothers. The company felt that the 25-second scene, where the firm complained on the bag featured in the film (Gadner, 2012).

An excerpt from the Warner Brothers movie, showing the 25 second scene, which Louis Vuitton claims misuse of its brand.

Louis Vuitton felt that the scene would confuse consumers into believing that the firm produces fake bags. The judge referred to Rogers v. Grimaldi, and concluded that allegations brought forward by Louis Vuitton's could not qualify for the First Amendments review. The bag used in the film had relevance to the story, and the allegations of confusion were not plausible. Louis Vuitton seemed to initiate crises, especially by filling lawsuits against other companies, and celebrities. Although the company was successful in some legal cases, the frequent filling of cases can portray the firm as one that aims to extort money.

Stakeholder's Response

Apparently, the company created its own crisis by introducing bags covered with their logos, and this led to mixed feelings from their consumers. In addition, the firm has been selling the bags to many consumers, especially those from emerging markets such as China. These consumers are described as luxury-hungry. However, the fact that luxury involves high costs, people became suspicious on the luxury aspect of the company. Therefore, the firm reacted by increasing the price of the bags in the market. This was an effort to correct their mistake. However, consumers felt that this only aggravated the mistake. The company lost substantial consumers to its competitors.

Kanye West, one of the consumers of Louis Vuitton's products, publicly shunned the price hike of the company. In addition, the rapper made known his feelings stating that he would not do business with Louis Vuitton because of the price hikes. West recommended saving money instead of purchasing products from the firm. Furthermore, Kanye West opted to work with H&M and Zara. On the other hand, Louis Vuitton's snub on Kanye West made the rapper wage war on the company. Owing to the rappers' influence, West opted to mobilize the public not to consume the company's products (Daily Mail, 2013).

Strategies to Restore Reputation

When the consumers felt that the company was gradually losing its luxury aspect in its products, the firm reacted by increasing the prices of the products. This was a move aimed at maintaining the "luxury aspect," in that only the luxurious people could afford the products. However, this was met with mixed reactions from the consumers. In an attempt to protect the company's brand, the firm is quick to file cases against corporations that seem to use its brand. There were a series of cases involving the company; however, judges dismissed some of the cases. For instance, in the lawsuit against Warner Brothers, the judge cited that allegations on confusion were not plausible.

The firm has opted to brand itself as a firm that plays a role in corporate sustainability. The firm has taken part in reducing carbon emissions through renewing, recycling, reducing, repairing and reviewing. The firm converts solar radiation into electricity, which its branch in France uses for all its needs. However, there is concern on whether the company opted to brand itself as "player in corporate sustainability" to restore its reputation. In addition, the company blames other firms that attempt to produce products similar with the company. On the other hand, the firm turned to the social media to market itself. The firm has two twitter accounts, Facebook account, Facebook Application, YouTube Channel and a LV Flickr Photo stream. In this way, the company stays in touch and markets its products to its consumers globally (Lindsay, 2012).

Summary

Scandals in organizations qualify as crisis. This is because the scandals have the potential to create an unstable environment, and stakeholders start perceiving such a firm differently as compared to the initial view. Prominent government officials find themselves in crisis, especially after crucial information concerning their "dark lives" leak to the public. When such happens, they find themselves stepping down, meaning that the crisis led to their downfall. Moreover, there have been many cases concerning mentally ill people causing traffic mayhem. This is also a crisis because they create an unstable condition.

Fortunately, there are agencies in the police department that deal in handling such crisis (Borodzicz, 2005). It is apparent that there was a crisis, which was self-induced. In addition, the crises were self-induced, and the involved parties in way tried to provide a justification for the preceding actions. The crises have potential to induce public scrutiny, critique and responses. Crises, especially those that cause public uproar can result to the downfall of the involved parties. This was apparent in the case of Louis Vuitton.

The company introduced bags that have logos all over. When the consumers complained, the company reacted by increasing the prices, instead of removing logos on the bags. Some stakeholders, for instance, rapper Kanye West broke out with the Louis Vuitton. The rapper made the move because the company had become too expensive. In addition, the company reacts by filling lawsuits to sue any corporation that copied their products. In justification, the firm takes part in the green movement, whereby the company aims to reduce the carbon emissions.

Miley Cyrus (Personality)

Miley Cyrus started out well, but recently, she has been the topic of discussion. She has taken part in a series of crises, which have made critics appear. Miley Cyrus' performance at the MTV Video Music Awards brought about mixed reactions. Apparently, the critics suggest that MTV contributed in marketing explicit content. The younger singer got the title "mother of all twerks" (dirty dances) after her performances on both MTV and VMA. In the MTV Video Awards, she wore a flesh-colored bikini tops, tight shorts and was "twerking" (dirty dancing) all over Robin Thicke. The provocative performance involved running his body around Robin, and running a foam finger in sexually suggestive manners.

Miley Cyrus' sexually explicit performance in the VMA. She was seen "twerking" all over singer Robin Thicke.

This is a bad impression, especially when it is a Hollywood stars come up with such performances in the name of fame. This has left parents, and other aspiring artists surprised on the negative impacts of fame. Apparently, the feedback from her fans, including her critics has no effect on the young singer; this is apparent because she continues creating crises. Miley Cyrus somehow enjoys the attention, and she has continued to simulate sex in a recently released Terry Richardson (Moodie, 2013). In the images provided, Miley Cyrus portrays a pornographic nature, which she shows sexual poses in nude clothing. In one, picture, Miley Cyrus goes topless and exposes her nipple, and this is a negative move for the former actor.

A picture where Miley Cyrus went topless.

Stakeholder's Response

Miley Cyrus' performance on VMA and MTV has raised eyebrows across various stakeholders, and there have been several responses. The Parents Television Council denounced the singer for her explicit and intentional sexually suggestive performance (Loinaz, 2013). The council also condemned MTV for rating the show as 14 suggesting it was appropriate for young viewers, but apparently, it was out of range. The council termed MTV as marketing sexually explicit messages for young viewers by manipulating the rating to lure parents to think that the content was appropriate for their children. On the other hand, Robin's mother was also shocked on seeing the performance of Miley Cyrus and her son Robin. This suggests that parents were all shocked after viewing such behavior in public, and they were not in agreement with the explicit performance. On the other hand, psychologists came out and felt that Miley Cyrus was hanging out with the wrong people (Roberts, 2013).

The fans were also watching the singer's performance, and they expressed great shock. This was evident on social media. Irish singer Sinead wrote published letter to Miley Cyrus on the same. In the letter, Sinead expressed concern for Miley, suggesting that the young singer had allowed herself to be nude in public. The letter states that, although Miley perceives her actions as cool, she will experience harm in the end because she has allowed "people" to take advantage of her. The letter urges the singer to be in control, and avoid the manipulation, to act or perform naked. Although Miley performed provocatively, the real beneficiaries are the people behind the scenes. In addition, her performance continues to tie women as toys for men to use to please or fulfill their egos (Moodie, 2013).

Strategies to Restore Reputation

Similar to the case of Louis Vuitton, when people bring about or induce crisis, they tend to offer justifications for such. Therefore, Miley Cyrus is no exception. Her response in relation to the trending news of her provocative sexually explicit performance, she stated that she was aiming at making history (Lombardi, 2013). However, critics oppose her justification stating that she made a fool of herself, and she wears a "don't care attitude." Apparently, the singer feels that she achieved her aim because the news became the topic of discussion even after three days. In addition, she states that the desire to perform in such a manner was because she wanted people to remember her forever. The singer also states that she does not pay attention to negative feedback or information because she was not the first or the last to perform in such a manner. Miley Cyrus said that every VMA performance has witnessed such performances and gave examples of Madonna, and Britney (Michaels, 2013).

Summary

Musicians also create a crisis in a variety of ways. For instance, some may engage in drug abuse, or dress inappropriately in public, whereas others may take part in criminal activities. There are many cases where musicians have caused crises, and the case of Miley Cyrus is an example to use as references. The young singer was a former actor, and her fan base constitutes children and teenagers, owing to her age. It is not clear whether her promoters influenced the unexpected turn of events, whereby she was good and now bad, but the open letter from Sinead makes it clear that promoters pressure musicians to perform in such a manner. Amazingly, the musician does not gain in monetary terms, as compared to the promoters who pocket the larger percentage of the money.

On the other hand, Miley Cyrus tries to justify her explicit performance by suggesting that she wanted to make history. Her case caused a global uproar, and critiques felt that she was under wrong company. Parents, fans and psychologists expressed their concern and offered mixed reactions on the same. Although the young singer perceives herself as famous, and indulged in provocative performance to gain fame, the repercussions of the same will come later. In defenses, she cited Maddona and Britney spears saying that the two have engaged in such performances, especially in the VMA and MTV Video Awards.

PETA (Charity Organization)

PETA's main objective is to advocate for "total animal liberation." The society has over two million members and aims at stressing the significance of animal rights via protests, stunts and literature. However, it is ironical that the same organization kills the animals. Records from the state's agriculture department show that the organization has killed thousands of animals in its headquarters. According to Whittaker (2014), the organization killed 1792 stray cats and dogs. In average, the organization kills five animals in a single day, and this shows the statistics of the year 2013. Although the charity organization receives funds, the society has failed to provide homes for the stray animals. This explains why the organization opts to kill the animals instead.

The state records showing thousands of killings PETA. The charity organization has defended itself claiming that it was not possible to offer the animals for adoption, suggesting they were not appropriate.

America is a country constituting animal lovers and statistics show that American homes have over 90 million cats and 75 million dogs. The people love the animals, celebrate their birthdays, and greet the pets on arrival in their homes. Apparently, the same people spend over 50 billion dollars and donate substantial amounts to charities, such as PETA that promise to take care of the animals. The PETA organization is not new to public crises, and it seems it is the order of the day. The company has induced other controversial issues, for instance, PETA's controversial campaign on "veggie love," which super bowl banned. On the other hand, there was a campaign aimed at mobilizing kids to question fathers who fished. This, PETA suggested was a violation of animal rights. This was ironical because the company was involved in animal killing crises, but was trying to target such fathers, whereas theirs was an economic activity (Gauba, 2012).