Reputation management of the 'Blade Runner'

Hero turned villain

In PR we are taught that the mass media are a very powerful resource and that they can be a person’s rise to fame or downfall to disgrace. The mass media has turned many ordinary people into prominent figures through reality TV shows such as survivor and has also ensured that people who do wrong and who were once respected prominent figures have taken the dive from hero to zero. Oscar Pistorius is one of those prominent figures that had to take the dive from hero to zero, when he shot and killed his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his Pretoria home, more details surrounding this story can be found at http://goo.gl/pIYwTt Oscar Pistorius was an inspiration to many, known worldwide as the ‘Blade Runner’ who was a very successful Paralympic athlete who often competed among competitors who had no disabilities. Oscar's achievements and challenges are briefly summarised by Julia Zhu through the following timeline http://goo.gl/SBluoF

Double amputee Oscar Pistorius making  history at the London 2012 Olympic games as he competes in the men's 400m heat among competitors without disabilities.

Source: Unique Nature Wallpapers. http://goo.gl/5isnfE

Is Oscar’s reputation redeemable?

Oscar Pistorius, in my opinion will have a tough time trying to redeem his reputation irrespective of whether or not he is found  guilty of his former girlfriend’s murder. Building up a reputation like the one Oscar had took many years of hard work both on and off the track. I do not believe that Oscar’s reputation can be redeemed no matter how good of a PR team he hires the mass media will always question the credibility and sincerity of his actions, like they did when Oscar held a private memorial service for Reeva more on that story found at http://goo.gl/5TMz5F 

Source: Google Images. http://goo.gl/IK7dVn

The mass media has ensured that whenever we think about Oscar we think of the events which transpired the morning of the 14 February 2013 it is  human nature to forget all the good someone has done and  concentrate on the bad. We have witnessed this in South Africa when looking at how difficult it is for people who have committed crimes to start a fresh even once they have done the time and have been reformed very few companies are willing to hire them. The inability of human beings to look past the bad and concentrate on the good is why I believe that Oscar’s reputation is irredeemable.

 It will also be difficult for him to build up his reputation if he struggles to regain the sponsorship that he had once possessed because his prominence came from his tenacity to not allow his disabilities to define him as a person and make a name for himself through the sport of athletics. 

Oscar Pistorius  heart broken after losing Nike sponsorship due to the controversy surrounding his name.

Source: Google Images. http://goo.gl/TAzeaP

'The bullet in the chamber' advertisement which Nike had to pull due to the controversy created by Oscar's murder case 

Source: YouTube. http://goo.gl/JSjN2o

He should however try by all means to regain  the prestige that was once associated with his name but I don’t think his attempts will be fruitful irrespective of whether he intentionally or unintentionally killed Reeva, blood on ones hands is not easily washed off. Also the media earn their money by broadcasting/publishing bad news, because bad news sells. A perfect example is provided by the image below which illustrates how the media sensationalize stories to provide different angles in an attempt to make stories more newsworthy. These are all factors which influence the way a person is perceived.

 

Source: Google Images. http://goo.gl/jwWvOH

SANRAL'S PR crisis

SANRAL’S baby gives birth to PR crisis

The crisis

SANRAL’S lack of transparency during the development of the E-tolls (electronic tolling) has resulted in the public distrusting them and has led to an overall loss of credibility and ultimately the birth of the problematic PR crisis. The crisis developed from a lack of two-way effective communication and because of a lack of transparency on the part of SANRAL. SANRAL’s PR team  should have predicted such an outcome and steered the company into a better direction and stuck to the number one rule of PR, and that’s always be honest with the media and your public's because nothing builds credibility like honesty. Yes, initially being upfront about E-tolling would have brought about resistance, but the resistance encountered wouldn't have been as severe as the resistance/opposition that the system is encountering now because of SANRAL’S attempt to strong-arm Gauteng motorists to buy into a system in which they did not have a say in. SANRAL’S PR team has a gigantic mountain to climb in terms of addressing the issues caused by E-tolls. The following article provides insight into Gauteng motorists’ feelings towards the E-tolling system source: http://goo.gl/4FlVim

Bikers Against E-Tolls protest  by riding against the tolling system in Johannesburg

Source: YouTube. http://goo.gl/aQ8NJ4

Addressing the crisis from a PR perspective

Instead of SANRAL attempting to strong-arm the public they should firstly accept full responsibility for the misunderstanding and apologise to the public. Then attempt to create understanding for the implementation of E-tolls by providing a detailed and transparent explanation on things like: why the taxes that are paid every month by hardworking South Africans are insufficient to fit the bill for the road improvements? They should also provide an explanation on their perspective of the accusation of E-tolls being a form of double taxation. SANRAL needs to make attempts to win back the public’s trust through effective two-way communication and sit down and have meaningful transparent negotiations with OUTA’s in order to achieve the best possible outcome for both parties. OUTA’s key arguments against the E-tolling system can be found by following the link provided: http://goo.gl/pil8K5 If negotiations do not prove to be fruitful I believe, in all honesty and from an objective standpoint, as an aspiring Public Relations Practitioner that the only way for SANRAL to fix their tainted reputation is to apologise for the lack of transparency and to do away with the E-tolling system all together because strong-arming the public through threats of litigation will only add petrol to the fire.

Gauteng motorists, 7/07/14, on Maraisburg Road Johannesburg, peacefully up in arms against the implementation of E-tolls.

Source: Fin24. http://goo.gl/yjMCvf

The dynamic field of PR

With the advent of Web 2.0 and the various social media that came along with it social networking has never been easier. Therefore, there is no excuse for any PR team to not have effective two way communication with their public's because the landscape of PR has changed to become more accommodating to both businesses and their public's. The increased information and technology has resulted in the end users of information becoming the new influencers who are able to impact the organisation positively or negatively by sharing/publishing their experiences which has a lot of power when it comes to evoking emotion. Businesses who do not take advantage of the opportunities that social media affords them are doing themselves a disservice. For more information on the dynamic field of PR follow this link http://goo.gl/Soizwn

Source: Google Images. http://goo.gl/2tpLHH