Crisis Communication and the Fashion Industry : Image Repairing in Racially Charged Crises

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Crisis Communication and the Fashion Industry :

Image Repairing in Racially Charged Crises

Ellinor Näslund

Program: Master of Arts (Two-Year): Media and Communication Studies – Culture, Collaborative Media and Creative Industries

Course: One-year Master’s Thesis, 15 credits Supervisor: Anders Høg Hansen

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Abstract

This thesis brings the study of crisis communication on social media into the studies of the creative industries and the fashion industry. The aim of this study is to investigate the crisis communication of the two Italian high fashion brands Prada and Gucci to see if there are any differences in the way they communicated during two racially charged crises. By using Benoit’s typology of image repair I conducted an analysis of the rhetoric of 12 crisis response messages posted on the companies’ official Twitter profiles. The analysis implies that the two companies follow the recommendations from previous research regarding the use of corrective action as the preferred crisis response strategy. However, the results also indicate a common use of mixed strategies.

Limitations in theory suggest that future research is needed. Studies covering racial issues are always up to date and the topic is often debated on social media where the fashion industry plays an influential role. Social media is constantly changing due to the rapid development in communications technology and user behavior. Further research is therefore encouraged to get a better understanding of the effects of certain crisis

communication strategies and the complexity of these topics.

Keywords: crisis communication, social media, twitter, blackface, fashion, image repair, Benoit

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List of Figures and Tables

Figure 1 : The location of crisis communication and image repair within

communication 4

Figure 2: Three types of crisis clusters 13

Table 1: Image repair strategies 26

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4 Communication Crisis Communication Image repair

1. Introduction

Most of the knowledge that humans acquire does not come from experience but from communication. Communication is therefore a vital part of our lives and can be defined as “a process in which a source sends a message or messages to an audience or

audiences” (Benoit, 2014, p.4). However, many times communication is an interaction involving multiple sources who exchange messages between each other. Within the broader concept of communication one can find different sub-categories, crisis communication is one of them. A crisis may pose various financial and reputational threats to an organization. Crisis communication can thus be seen as messages that are motivated by a crisis. The theory of image repair, located within the field of crisis communication, focuses on crises responses designed to repair a damaged image (Ibid, p.3-4).

Figure 1: The location of crisis communication and image repair within communication. (Benoit, p. 4)

With the rise of social media as an increasingly important part of our lives, companies have had to adjust their communication tools to reach their targeted audiences. When companies make mistakes, or when other unforeseen things might put them in a crisis, social media becomes an easy tool to quickly reach out to the audience to make an attempt to solve the crisis or to restore brand image and reputation. In December 2018, Prada faced a social media firestorm after civil right attorney and activist Chinyere Ezie spotted the Pradamalia collection. She posted a photo on Facebook and explained that the $550 keychain that was on display in the window of the company’s store in New York resembled ‘blackface’ (Lang, 2018). In February 2019, Gucci pulled a balaclava jumper from sale after another social media firestorm. Social media users had detected

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the jumper sold by the Italian company, posted pictures of it on social media and made the discussion go viral. The balaclava jumper was black and covered the lower half of the face with a red cut-out feature around the mouth. Many people claimed that this item also resembled ‘blackface’ - a racist stereotype of African Americans that dates back more than 200 years. Both Gucci and Prada quickly had to take actions to minimize the crisis and the damage it could have on the company’s image (BBC News, 2019). Fashion is a major economic force in today’s society and plays an important role in social and cultural life. It enables people to express their identities and the industry often dictates what is seen as beautiful or acceptable. It is closely connected to art and popular culture and often raises important moral and ethical questions (Arnold, 2009, p.7). Scandals and how they are dealt with often receive attention in both traditional and new media but barely any attention in scientific research. This thesis will therefore bring the study of crisis communication on social media into the studies of the creative

industries and the fashion industry by examining the crisis communication of two high fashion brands. The purpose of this study is to investigate the crisis communication of the two companies to see if there are any differences in the way they communicated during a racially charged crisis and to reflect on how the communication actions were received by the audiences.

The following research will contribute with knowledge to the field of crisis

communication on social media and fill a research gap as it focuses on the so far fairly unexplored perspective of the fashion industry. The fashion industry is highly influential on many social media channels and therefore almost automatically have a lot of

responsibility for many of the values that might be presented and represented. This thesis will explore and compare the crisis communication that followed after Prada’s Pradamalia collection and Gucci’s balaclava jumper by using Benoit’s typology of image repair to investigate the crisis responses. I will be using the following research questions:

1. What image repair strategies did Prada and Gucci apply to their crisis communication?

2. What possible implications did the chosen image repair strategies have on audience reactions?

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2. Background

Fashion can be defined as a cultural sensibility, aesthetic or style agreed to by a society at large for a certain period of time. It can be perceived as a marker of time (Navarro, 2018) and a “sequential transient cultural formation that constantly shakes off its own past in the quest to create new beginnings” (Van de Peer, 2014, p.324). It aims to be up-to-date which requires an awareness of its history. Fashion is thus a phenomenon that is tightly linked to the past as well as the present (Ibid, p.323). Believed to have its origins in the Renaissance, the fashion industry has grown to become a major economic force. It is a product of developments within both trade and finance, as well as a product of the shifting class structures and the growing interest in individual expression (Arnold, 2009, p.6). Clothing no longer serves the sole function of protecting the body. It is also the means through which people can express their individual or collective identities and/or sympathies, such as socio-economic status, religion, gender and occupation. A person’s wardrobe can be seen as an extension of one’s beliefs and as a part of the construction of social identity. The clothes we put on has the ability to influence our mood as well as reinforce our frame of mind and feelings. What we choose to wear is a type of non-verbal communication that sends powerful signals to the people around us. To

understand the communication of fashion it is important to consider people’s different perceptions and the construction of meaning (Kodžoman, 2019, p.91).

Clothing can have external and internal meanings. External meanings implies that they are constructed by outer circumstances. Barnard (2013) identifies four different agents that can serve as the source of the meaning of a garment. The first one is the designer, as one can perceive the clothes to be reflections of the designers intentions which in turn are based on personal feelings, thoughts, beliefs and desires. However, this perspective creates problems if viewed in a too simplistic manner. If it is only the designer’s intentions that create meaning to a garment, then there would not be any alternative interpretations and people would not be able to adapt the garment to their own intentions. The meaning of clothes can therefore not be constructed by the designer’s intentions alone. Other agents that can function as a source of meaning are

wearer/consumers and spectators, but this perspective encounters the same problems as the one above. If only one of them would generate meaning to a garment, then there would not be any alternative interpretations and there would be no contesting opinions. Lastly, Barnard suggests that authorities should also be considered a possible source of

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meaning. He then refers to schools, military and governments and their construction of uniforms and the meaning of its colors, cuts and patterns. Equally, this perspective is not immune to the issues that occur if one excludes other agents from the construction of meaning. Nevertheless, it leads us to the other approach, that garments can obtain an internal meaning (Barnard, 2013, p.73.79).

This position is found more often in fashion journalism than in academic studies. It argues that the qualities and meaning of a garment can be found ‘within’ the garment itself, through its shapes, lines, texture and color. For example, something can be as obviously casual as the color red is obviously red. Yet it becomes more difficult to interpret the meaning of a garment if one is observing clothes from a culture that one knows very little about. This is because different cultures wear different fashion. It seems obvious now that external and internal meanings are not sufficient explanations to what brings meaning to a garment. Due to the fact that human visions and perceptions are ultimately unique, people create their personal meanings and ways of expression (Barnard, 2013, p.79-80). Navarro (2018) notes that styles can vary, from being traditional to being rebellious, and that when something is challenging the status quo, that style is often viewed as a statement and spontaneously obtains a political meaning. The balaclava is an example of a statement garment. After performing the Punk Prayer on the altar of Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral in February 2012, Pussy Riot became associated with balaclavas and the balaclavas became associated with modern resistance. There were many semiotic practices in their live performance, but the colorful clothes and balaclavas made an impact on protesters around the world who adopted the style and adapted it to their own intentions. Bruce (2015) argues that the balaclava has taken on global significance due to its affective magnetism. It is a transnational icon that facilitates the articulation of solidarity across borders. But she also encourages scholars to pay attention to the temporal structure of the solidarity generated through the balaclava. Is it only momentary or will it last for a long time? Skepticism has been expressed about its trendiness and the American cultural elite’s interest in Pussy Riot, with critics claiming that it comes at the expense of more severe human rights abuses (Bruce, 2015, p.44-45, 58). Nevertheless, the garment went from having a functional purpose to also being a statement of aesthetics and the trend has since then also reached the major fashion houses and the runways.

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The Gucci fall/winter collection of 2018 contained several knitted and colorful balaclavas and half-balaclavas (FF Channel, 2018). The fashion show and collection was described by Gucci head designer Alessandro Michele as a reflection of human beings in a post-human world where one has the opportunity to express a new identity and decide what one wants to be. Some fashion journalists associated the Gucci

balaclavas with a postoperative state (Mower, 2018) and something similar to a medical bandage (Oliva, 2018). However, the public found that a balaclava jumper from the same collection showed great resemblance with ‘blackface’. It was black and covered the lower half of the face with a red cut-out feature around the mouth. The social media firestorm that followed made Gucci pull the item off sale (BBC news, 2019). Two months earlier, Prada had faced the same accusations when they released the Pradamalia collection. Prada described the six animals depicted in the collection as “a new family of mysterious tiny creatures that are one part biological, one part technological, all parts Prada” (Prada, n.d) and they feature Prada codes such as “metal studs, ombre tones, polished wood, printed lips, and the iconic Saffiano leather” (Prada, n.d). Just like Gucci, Prada withdrew the object of criticism from sale – a dark keychain monkey featuring big red lips, a trait common in blackface imagery (The Guardian, 2018).

Left to right: Prada keychain monkey (Prada, n.d). Blackface mask (National Museum of African American History & Culture, n.d). Gucci balaclava jumper (BBC news, 2019).

2.1 Blackface Imagery

Originating from the early nineteenth century in the USA, blackface minstrelsy was a theatrical performance where white men used mocking or racist stereotypes to portray African-Americans for entertainment purposes (Reyes, 2019, p.524). The minstrelsy was invented by white working-class men who felt oppressed politically, economically and socially, despite being a part of the majority. They used soot, burnt cork or shoe polish to paint their faces black and the African-American characters that they played

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were depicted as lazy, ignorant, hypersexual, superstitious, cowards and thieves (National Museum of African American History & Culture, n.d). Blackface minstrelsy grew in popularity after the American Civil War and developed into an industry of songs, sheet music, characters, vaudeville and various images (Reyes, 2019, p.526). Eric Lott (2013) explains that “while it was organized around the quite explicit “borrowing” of black cultural materials for white dissemination, a borrowing that ultimately

depended on the material relations of slavery, the minstrel show obscured these

relations by pretending that slavery was amusing, right, and natural” (Lott, 2013, p.3-4). The prejudiced perceptions of African-Americans were a consequence of the historic past and the trans-Atlantic slavery. However, the USA is not the only country that is dealing with depictions of blackface. Other countries that have a history of slavery and colonization may have their own blackface imagery that show similarities with the American minstrelsy. An example of such imagery is Zwarte Piet in The Netherlands, who appears during the festive celebration of Saint Nicholas in December. Saint Nicholas is said to be the patron saint of seafarer and children, who is returning from Spain together with his black servant(s) – Zwarte Piet. Another example is the Iranian Haji Firuz, a joyful minstrel who heralds the Iranian new year, Nowruz. In a global world, the circulation of such imageries can have different effects in different countries. While a certain imagery may not be seen as harmful in one country, it can be perceived as oppressive somewhere else. One of the reasons for this could be that diaspora communities in other countries are on another stage of awareness regarding race, ethnicity and national identity as different societies may establish unique social constructions (Reyes, 2018, p.524, 542).

There are historical examples of black people participating in the blackface imagery by imitating white people who are imitating black people (Reyes, 2018, 524). However, there are also contemporary examples that further evoke the debate of the

commodification of Blackness. In Mislán and Ashley’s (2018) study of visual representation and online audiences they analyze Beyoncé’s photoshoot with French fashion magazine L’Officel Paris. She was portrayed with darker skin as an African queen wearing African inspired clothing. Despite a statement saying that the image was a tribute to Beyoncé’s African roots, critics claimed that the photo recalled earlier blackface performances. Racial discourses on the internet often reflect a larger

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the everyday media discourse that racial identity and structures are constructed. Modern-day constructions of race continues to highlight differences, dominance and suppression and current understandings of race are highly influenced by popular culture. Contemporary blackface performances could therefore also be seen as a type of visual racism (Mislán & Ashley, 2018, p.247-249, 260).

The goal of this background section was to give the reader an understanding of the meaning and communication of fashion and the underlying problem that provoked social media audiences to react to the two fashion items of Gucci and Prada. It is important to recognize that people can construct meaning differently. Whether one is discussing fashion or race, or a combination of the two, there are often different perceptions represented. However, the Gucci and Prada items that evoked criticism on social media can be seen as racially charged due to its perceived connections to the historical semiotics of blackface. Before we investigate how the companies responded to the criticism, a thorough presentation of previous research on crisis communication in social media and in racially charged crises will be presented in the following section.

3. Literature Review

3.1 Crisis Communication on Social Media

In a study where practitioners answered the question ‘what benefits do you see from using social media?’ it was indicated that crisis communication is seen as one of the most useful areas to implement social media. One of the reasons was said to be the fact that they provide the opportunity to distribute information to a large amount of people at any time and if used wisely social media could generate boundless means of

communication (White, 2011, p.13). Social media can be defined as a new era of

internet-based interactive applications that simplify communication and the exchange of user-generated content between publics and organizations (Jin et. al., 2014, p.75). The emergence of social media has thus created new channels for organizations to interact with stakeholders in new efficient ways. However, social media can also be seen as a breeding ground for crisis and risks due to the possibility for users to quickly create and exchange user-generated content. A study that investigated 16 international companies found that negative new media publicities or digital security failures stood for 36% of the company crises. It has become clear that it is important for organizations today to know how to deal with social-mediated crises (Cheng, 2018, p.58).

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Various scholars claim that many organizations still do not fully understand how to apply crisis communication to social media. This lack of understanding could lead the organization to a deeper crisis. A qualitative content analysis of 15,650 Facebook and Twitter messages connected to seventeen Australian organizations found that the organizations did not understand the potential of social media when communicating during a crisis. They often chose communication strategies that might increase the risk of harming the reputation of the organization. (Roshan et. al., 2016, p.351-353, 359). As Coombs (2015) puts it, “just because you communicate during a crisis does not mean you necessarily make the situation better” (Coombs, 2015, p.141).

Coombs (2007) defines a crisis as a “sudden and unexpected event that threatens to disrupt an organization’s operations and poses both a ﬁnancial and a reputational threat” (Coombs, 2007, p.164). Various stakeholders can be affected physically, emotionally as well as financially and the crisis may also change the perceptions of the organization. As many stakeholders retrieve information about the crisis from news reports and social media, the internet and the news media play an important role in the perception of reputation. If people’s perceptions becomes unfavorable it may have an impact on how they interact with the organization (Ibid). Reputation is based on various elements such as impressions and perceptions and is a reflection of the publics’ judgment of the organization. Altogether, the different elements demonstrate the credibility of the organization’s actions and determine future expectations. However, Baker (2001) argues that reputation should not be confused with image, as image can be built on false perceptions. That is why it is important for organizations to communicate true

reputations to their stakeholders to ensure that they have their support (Baker, 2001, p.514).

In addition to affecting an organization’s reputation , a crisis may also have an impact on the stakeholder’s perceptions of responsibility for the crisis. It can lead to affective responses such as anger, cause negative secondary communication reactions (word-of mouth) and have a negative impact on behavioral intentions of the public. Due to the development of social media, people now have the possibility to express negative experiences publicly. This may attract negative attention and could potentially harm both image and reputation (Triantafillidou & Yannas, 2020, p.2-3). When a crisis occur,

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people who are active social media users tend to become even more active. Social media can in times of crisis function as a platform for emotional support and enable publics to bond, act collectively and demand change. Online participations often results in positive offline behavioral intentions. This implies that companies no longer have a choice regarding whether they should or should not integrate social media into their crisis management, the question is how to do so (Jin et. al. 2014, p.76).

Issues of timing has become an important aspect of crisis management. Claeys and Cauberghe (2012) studied the effects that timing has on crisis response strategies and post-crisis reputation. Findings from that study indicate that organizations simply by choosing the right crisis timing strategy can avoid the difficulties of choosing the correct crisis response strategy (Claeys & Cauberghe, 2012, p.87). Timing refers to the moment when an organization communicates to acknowledge the existence of a crisis. A widely used concept within crisis timing strategy is ‘stealing thunder’ which means that it is the organization itself that is the first one to reveal the crisis (Coombs, 2015, p.144). Huang and Di Staso (2020) emphasizes that by being proactive and responding quickly, organizations can reduce the damage that the crisis might have on their

reputation. Quick actions might also affect audience interpretations of a crisis as well as attributions of responsibility. However, not all crisis are detected in advance. It is therefore also important to respond fast when a crisis occurs. In their study, they quantified “fast” and concluded that a response is quick when it comes within one day. Unlike previous research presented in their study where Lukaszewski claim that the ‘golden hour’ (the first one or two hours of a crisis) is critical, they did not find that one hour or one day made a difference. Nevertheless, the importance of timing may be further emphasized when crisis response strategies are applied to social media due to the organization of timelines and timestamps connected to each post. Crisis response posts that are posted at different times after the exposure of the crisis might result in different levels of attention. Quick responses might lead to more attention as the crisis is still recent. Slow responses on the other hand might receive little attention as the crisis is no longer timely, which in turn can make crisis communication less effective (Huang & Di Staso, 2020, p.2, 6).

Coombs (2015) suggests that crisis communication should be strategic and that

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crisis” (Coombs, 2015, p.141). However, as he developed a set of researched based guidelines for crisis communication he rejected the use of the label ‘best practices’ as that would imply uniform processes. Instead, each crisis is unique and capable of composing unique communication demands. Nevertheless, we can identify different types of crisis and similarities between them (Ibid, p.142). This was first elaborated in 2007 when Coombs established the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) as a framework for matching crisis type with appropriate crisis response strategies to

maximize reputational protection. SCCT suggest that there is a relationship between the reputation of an organization and its perceived crisis responsibility and that the extent of the organization’s crisis responsibility determines the appropriate crisis response

strategy. Before choosing an appropriate strategy one has to determine the type of crisis. The crises are divided into three clusters which each represent a level of crisis

responsibility of the organization

Figure 2: Three types of crisis clusters. (Coombs, 2007, p.168)

Triantafillidou and Yannas (2020) used the SCCT theory and experimental design when investigating the effect of different social media platforms and response strategies on reputation as well as the publics’ online and offline behavioral intentions. Their study involving a fictious hotel was based on a real event from 2018. In December 2018, an African American guest was staying at a hotel in Portland in the United States and was

Victim cluster •The organization is also a

victim of the crisis. •Very low level of

responsibility for the crisis – mild reputational threat. •Examples:

Natural disasters, rumors, workplace violence, product tampering

Accidental Cluster •Actions taken by the

organization that lead to the crisis were unintentional. •Low level of responsibility

for the crisis – moderate reputational threat. •Examples: Challenges, technical-error accidents, technical-error product harm. Preventable Cluster •The organization knowingly

made inappropriate decisions, placed people at risk or violated a

law/regulation.

•High responsibility for the crisis – severe reputational threat.

•Examples:

Human-error accidents, human-error product harm, organizational misdeed with no injuries, organizational misdeed with injuries, organizational misdeed management misconduct.

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accused of trespassing while he made a phone call from the lobby. The police got involved and removed the man from the hotel. The man recorded the incident and posted the video on his Instagram account and it went viral. This caused the hotel to act by publishing an apology on Twitter a few days later, putting the blame on and firing the employees who had called the police. The crisis under investigation was, equally to the one in this study, racially charged and they found that this type of crisis belongs to the preventable cluster. This suggests that crises that are racially charged pose a sever reputational threat to the organization (Triantafillidou & Yannas, 2020, p.1-3).

3.2 Crisis Communication in Racially Charged Crises

Crises based on racial issues can occur in organizations through the use of words, behavior or symbols. Racially charged crises are also emotionally charged and can result in extensive media attention, which in turn can result in loss of trust as well as financial losses. The public often seeks to find someone responsible for the act as it can be considered a human-error accident that could have been prevented. However,

sometimes crises are seen as the result of an organization’s internal environment and therefore they can also give the organization an opportunity to update their policies to prevent similar issues from happening again. Even though racially charged crises appear every now and then, the research conducted on this type of crisis is still very scant (Triantafillidou & Yannas, 2020, p.3).

Baker (2001) offers a framework for managing racial crises and suggests that crises that are racially charged can be divided into three different categories: actions, words and symbols. Incidents resulting from actions should be met with vigilant decision-making and calculated response. Considerations need to be taken in regard to how much credibility can be lost and if it can be repaired. Baker uses the Eddie Bauer case as an example, when an African American teenager was accused of stealing from an Eddie Bauer outlet and had to take his t-shirt off that he had bought from the same store the previous day. The company used various image restoration strategies but did not issue an apology until several weeks had passed. They received a lawsuit before they decided to hire a communications agency who then took control over the situation (Baker, 2001, p.4-5, 7-8)

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Incidents resulting from words should best be handled through the strategy of apology. As organizations cannot offer any justification for racist words Baker argues that the best option is to apologize and quickly move on. The following incident involving a plane crash of an American Airlines aircraft may serve as an example. During the investigation of the plane crash, a pilot’s manual was made public where one could find a section called ‘Survival in Latin America’ containing negative references of Latin American passengers. As the information in the manual was printed, the company could not deny its existence. However, they did not take full responsibility for the action as they claimed that they had received the information from another airline that used to fly the same route. Nevertheless, American Airlines apologized and took actions to prevent similar things from happening again. The incident did not result in any severe damages of their company image and the crisis was over within a week (Baker, 2001, p.6-8).

Finally, when incidents are results of symbols Baker suggests that the organization should simply remove the symbol. Times change as well as social norms. Images and symbols that were accepted 100 years ago might not be accepted today. One example could be images portraying slavery. Another example is the restaurant chain called The Sambo’s who had to change its name to Sam’s as the word ‘sambo’ is associated with the 19th century imagery of black characters who were depicted as unintelligent creatures with exaggerated physical features (Baker, 2001, p.7-8), which earlier in this thesis is referred to as blackface imagery.

As mentioned in the background section, people construct meaning differently. Stuart Hall’s (in Hodkinson, 2017) encoding/decoding model argues that the producers are encoding ‘preferred meanings’ into a media text and that these meanings are based on the current dominant political, ideological or institutional order. However, these ‘preferred meanings’ would only become reality if decoded correctly by the audiences. The audience’s decoding is in turn related to their socio-economic contexts, which means that there is a possibility for the audience to challenge the meanings encoded by the producers (Hodkinson, 2017, p.85). This elaboration of the ‘encoding’ and

‘decoding’ of messages sheds light on the sensitivity that companies must show towards its audience’s way of constructing meaning. Baker (2001) claims that “organizations also have moral and social responsibilities to respect the cultures of individuals outside their doors” (Baker, 2001, p.8).

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When a company is faced with a crisis, they are equally faced with various crisis communication options. Based on the theory of image restoration, Baker’s (2001) comparative study of the incidents at Eddie Bauer and American Airlines finds that corrective action is the most suitable strategy to apply to the communication when dealing with a racially charged crisis (Baker, 2001, p.9). This finding is also supported by Triantafillidou and Yannas (2020) who used SCCT and found that corrective action leads to more positive social media engagement and positive offline behavior intentions (Triantafillidou & Yannas, 2020, p.8). The strategy of corrective action will be

elaborated further in the following chapter together with the other strategies of the image restoration theory.

3.3 Summary

The previous research reviewed in this section indicate that social media has become increasingly important for crisis management. However, there are still organizations that do not fully understand how to manage a social mediated crisis. Strategic

communication choices and timing are important aspects to take into consideration when designing responses which goal is to improve the situation for stakeholders and the organization itself. It seems to be important for organizations to not jump into conclusions but still act fast. The empirical example of Eddie Bauer (Baker, 2001) also shows that crisis messages might change over time. It could be that the organization simply do not know how to deal with the crisis or do not want to acknowledge the crisis. However, one could also believe that changes in messages might depend on the

development of a crisis and its different stages. Another reason could be that they are trying to reach different stakeholders and the messages might therefore be seen as inconsistent.

Two of the most prominent crisis response theories in the field of crisis communication is SCCT and the image repair theory. SCCT is built upon image repair theory and it takes into account the crisis type and perception of responsibility in its choice of

appropriate response strategy. It gives substantial attention to the stakeholders of a crisis to be able to evaluate the effects of different response strategies (Coombs, 2007, p.168). If the aim of this study would have been to investigate public perception and the effects of crisis response strategies applied by the two fashion companies, then SCCT would

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probably have made the better choice. However, considering my research questions I have decided to use only the image repair theory as theoretical framework for this thesis, as its focus is on message options and what a company can say when faced with a crisis (Benoit, 1997, p.178).

4. Theoretical framework

4.1 Image Repair Theory

The foundation on which the image repair theory rests can be explained in one sentence: “A person or organization accuses another of wrongdoing, and the accused produces a message that attempts to repair that image.” (Benoit, 2014, p.13). It is based on the idea that image and reputation is vital to everyone, organizations as well as individuals. Image repair theory can be defined as a persuasive communications discourse and as a part of crisis communication, where the goal is to reduce negative attitudes among audience or other stakeholders and to create or strengthen positive ones. Attitudes affect our behavior and are influenced by personal experiences and communication. They consists of two components: belief (knowledge) and value (opinion). Both components are necessary for people to form an attitude. In order for an organization to choose the right response message when a crisis occurs it needs to understand the beliefs and values of its audience (Ibid, p.2, 7, 10).

The theory argues that no matter what, the image of an organization is never threatened unless a salient audience disapproves of an act and believe that the organization is responsible for that act. However, an organization’s perception of its audience attitudes may not reflect reality. Organizations and audiences make assumptions according to their own individual perceptions of the world. It is possible for one to think that someone else holds negative attitudes towards oneself, when in fact they might have positive attitudes. Even if this would be the case, the organization needs to design persuasive responses according to their perceptions of audience attitudes.

Misperceptions about attitudes or difference in perception between organizations and audience can result in misunderstandings and miscommunication (Benoit, 2014, p.5-6, 20).

Connected to understanding attitudes is the importance of understanding the context of a crisis and the accusations one is facing. Persuasive attacks are attempts aimed at

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strengthening unfavorable attitudes towards a target. Crises usually contain more than one single attack and one single response. They are generally multiple and come from several different attackers. This highlights that accusations may come from different audiences who also might interpret the responses in different ways. It is therefore essential to emphasize the importance of knowing the attitudes of the audience in order to understand their accusations and to be able to design the most appropriate responses (Benoit, 2014, p.10, 29-32).

Benoit (2014) developed a typology of five different response strategies that a company could choose to apply to their crisis communication:

Denial

The organization might deny the existence of the offensive act or that they performed it. Nevertheless, the use of denial as a strategy might evoke another question among the audience: if it wasn’t you, then who was it? Another variant of denial is therefore to shift the blame and hold someone else responsible for the act which make audiences target their accusations on someone else (Benoit, 2014, p.22).

Evasion of responsibility

If the organization cannot deny the action it might try to reduce its perceived

responsibility. This can be done in four different ways. First, they could argue that the act was a response to another wrongful act and therefore provoked by someone else. If that someone agrees to the statement, that person (or organization) will be held

responsible instead. Second, one could claim to have been unable to control the offensive act due to lack of information or resources. Third, the organization could argue that the action was in fact an accident. Lastly, the organization could inform the audience that despite the outcome of the action it was made with good intentions. None of these strategies denies the action but provides stakeholders with information to reduce their perceived responsibility (Benoit, 2014, p.23).

Reduction of the offensiveness of the act

This strategy aims to minimize negative perceptions and feelings among the audience. This approach offers six different variants. One, bolstering can help reduce unfavorable perceptions by emphasizing positive attributes or actions done in the past. Two, one can attempt to convince stakeholders that the act is not as bad as it might be perceived and

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therefore minimize the seriousness of the act. Three, one can use the strategy of

differentiation and compare the act with other more offensive acts done by others. Four, the organization can use transcendence and justify the act by placing it in a broader context. Five, the accused could attempt to undermine the credibility of the accuser. If the accuser is the one affected by the offensive act, the offensiveness of the act might be reduced if the organization creates the impression that the accuser deserved what

happened. This can redirect audience attention and remove focus from the original accusation. Six, the organization can offer compensation to the victims of the action to reduce unfavorable attitudes. The compensation could be of monetary measures or goods and services and essentially serves as a bribe. If the victim agrees with the compensation and its value they might be able to overlook the offensive act (Benoit, 2014, 24-25).

Corrective action

An organization adapting to this strategy ultimately promises to solve the problem. This can be done by either restoring the situation and return to how things were before the act and/or by promising to take necessary measures to prevent it from ever happening again. This strategy could be an element of an apology. Nevertheless, it is possible to use this strategy without admitting guilt (Benoit, 2014, p.26).

Mortification

This strategy is used when the organization decides to admit responsibility and offer an apology to the public. It goes well together with the strategy of corrective action but they may also appear separately. Nevertheless, the strategy of mortification may appear particularly complex as there is no universal agreement on what an apology includes. An apology can imply that the accused is accepting the blame, expresses regret or asks for forgiveness. However, accepting blame might do more harm to the reputation of the organization (Benoit, 2014, p.26). In an earlier work of Benoit (1997) it is also stated that this type of strategy comes with the possible risk of receiving lawsuits from victims (Benoit, 1997, p.181).

If a crisis occurs, Benoit suggests three steps to simplify the subsequent crisis

communication. First, it is important to be well prepared. This means that even though crises can take various forms, some crises can be anticipated. Communication plans and policies should be reviewed regularly to reduce response time and possible risks of

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mistakes in the initial response. Second, it is important that the company understands the accusation and the severity of the assumed offense. Response should be tailored accordingly. Finally, it is vital to not only tailor the message to the accusation but also to tailor it to the right type of audience (Benoit, 1997, p.182).

These strategies all attempt to change negative attitudes among audiences and turn them into positive as well as strengthen already positive ones. Most image repair studies focus on issues that occur in the United States. Nevertheless, it is evident that images are threatened as well as restored throughout the world. Studies of international image repair, where image repair actions are taken in one country for an audience in another, is therefore an important contribution to the field. Because sometimes cultural differences and norms can make a crisis situation even more complex (Benoit, 2014, p.87, 89).

4.2 Limitations of the Image Repair Theory

No matter the strategy, image repair is a highly persuasive discourse. That means that what we perceive as effective strategy can actually be derived from our personal understanding of persuasion. Even if I find that this is the most appropriate theory for this specific study, I believe it is important to also be aware of its limitations and the criticism that it has been appointed. For example, it does not offer any insight to the early stages of positive image or reputation development. Neither does it offer any typology of attack strategies despite the importance of persuasive attacks (Benoit, 2014, p.45). One could therefore argue that it is difficult to know how to create a positive image in a crisis situation when one does not know how to create a positive image in a ‘normal’ state. In addition, one cannot exclude the possibility that different attack strategies could result in different image repair responses.

Coombs and Schmidt (2000) emphasize that image repair theory relies heavily on description and retrospective sense-making by conducting single case studies. It has been criticized for being a taxonomy rather than a theory. They argue that we need a clearer picture of public reactions to image repair strategies to get a better understanding for the protection of organizational images. In addition, they claim that we also need a better understanding for public reactions to image repair strategies in different types of crises to learn why we should use or avoid certain strategies. In other words, it is

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suggested that image repair research needs to become more prescriptive and less tentative and speculative (Coombs & Schmidt, 2000, p.163-164).

5. Methodology

5.1 Research approach and paradigm

This study started off by following an abductive logic where emphasize would be on the importance of “social actors’ language, meanings and accounts in the context of

everyday activities” (Blaikie & Priest, 2019, p.117). However, as the work progressed I found that my assumptions as well as the process of collecting and analyzing the data to a greater extent came to reflect the inductive logic instead. The goal of an abductive approach to research is to try to describe why people act the way they do to ultimately gain an understanding for the symbolic meanings, interpretations and intentions that direct a person’s behavior (Ibid, p.118). While those things are important for the understanding of the research problem (and therefore elaborated on in the background section) I realized that they would not be significantly helpful in my attempt to answer the research questions.

Assumptions regarding the use of theory also made it clear that the open approach of the abductive logic was not the most appropriate for this study. In abductive methods, epistemological assumptions are seen from a constructionist perspective which suggests that knowledge about social reality should be discovered by the researcher from the ‘inside’ and not through the use of already existing theories and concepts. It is therefore an approach that aims to construct concept and theories of its own based on the

language of the participants, without suggesting that one ‘truth’ is more real than another. The choice of theory in this study, as well as the existing concept and typology of image repair, is central for the analysis of data. This stands in line with the

conventionalist assumption of the inductive logic. An inductive logic uses existing theories and concepts as tools to better understand the world. Considerations regarding the choice of theory are seen as a matter of judgement and are not based on evidence that claim one theory to be better than another. The theory used in this research was carefully selected and based on previous studies and what I believed would be most suitable when answering the research questions. The goal of this study also aligns with the one of the inductive approach: to use previous research to create descriptive

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generalizations about certain observed regularities limited to a specific phenomenon (Blaikie & Priest, 2019, p.111-112, 117, 122-123).

In their earlier work on the use of paradigms, Blaikie and Priest (2017) suggest that a researcher who attempts to answer ‘why’ and ‘what’ has to make a choice between the different logics (abductive, inductive etc.) that are co-joined with a certain set of assumptions. Choosing a research paradigm is on the other hand only necessary when answering ‘why’ questions and not required when it comes to ‘what’ questions - the questions in this research (Blaikie & Priest, 2017, p.28). However, the authors also state that the inductive logic is not associated with any specific research paradigm. Because “…inductive logic’s only role in social research is to produce generalized descriptions , i.e. to produce answers to ‘what’ research questions. This can be done in the context of a variety of ontological assumptions” (Ibid, 2019, p.23). In addition, inductive logic is needed when generalizing regularities or relationships but which methods of collecting and analyzing data that are used to achieve this is of less importance. Nevertheless, it might still be of interest to know that various parts of this research have been influenced by the neo-positivist paradigm. This means that the research design of this study is linear and structured in a step-by-step manner. The inductive logic is used to establish regularities and the data collected is used as a mean of describing these regularities (Ibid, 2017, p.38-39). It has also had a substantial influence on my position as a researcher, which brings us to the issues of ethics.

5.2 Ethics

According to the neo-positivist paradigm the researcher should take the position of a detached observer. This means that research is conduced top-down and from a

researcher’s perspective. This differs from the interpretive paradigm which I looked to when I was still following the abductive logic. An interpretivist approach places the researcher on the ‘inside’ as a reporter or mediator of the language and experiences of the participants (Blaikie & Priest, 2017, p.42). However, this paradigm raises the question whether it is the observer (researcher) or the social actor that construct

meaning to the understanding of the phenomena (Blaikie & Priest, 2019, p.126). Blaikie & Priest (2017) suggest, as several other scholars mentioned previously in this thesis, that humans interpret the world differently. A person’s worldview, perceptions and perspectives are highly influenced by various social factors. This is something that

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researchers have to take into account when conducting research, as no one is immune to such tendencies. Even the worldview of the researcher can affect the interpretation that he or she makes (Blaikie & Priest, 2017, p.28).

A researcher’s ethical approach functions as guidance in the ethical decision making of the research. However, research is considered contextual which means that the ethical dilemmas that arise in each study are unique. Some scholars have therefore argued that as the dilemmas are unique the ethical decision making should not be guided by general principles or codes but by the context in which they exist (Collins, 2010, p.83). This study is dealing with a sensitive subject which is crises caused by symbolics and perceptions of racism. It made me realize at an early point of the research that I needed to be careful with the material I was using and the way I analyzed it. By looking at the twitter posts of the companies I observed the companies point of view. By giving examples of audience reactions I provided an insight into the perspectives of twitter users. Neither the companies nor the twitter users whose posts were used in this study were informed about this research. Some might argue that this creates ethical issues.

Big companies such as Prada and Gucci can to some extent be expected to be investigated as they are global and well known. It could however be considered an ethical problem to use the comments of twitter users without informing them or asking for their consent. Nevertheless, sometimes researchers need to find a balance between different ethical considerations and the process of conducting a research. The audience reactions in this study are not meant to describe general audience opinions. Instead they are used as simple examples to show how some people have reacted to the companies’ crisis responses. I considered masking their names, usernames and photos for the sake of ensuring anonymity. However, I found it to be beneficial for the study to keep the information. That way I provide possibilities for other researchers to find their tweet and confirm that it is not made up or taken out of the blue. However, there is always a risk that the tweets might disappear one day as social media is not constant and it is possible to add and delete twitter profiles and comments.

5.3 Sampling

Collins (2010) offers the researcher two questions to use as guidance when sampling: “how is a sample taken correctly?” and “how big should the sample be?” (Collins, 2010,

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p.178). A sample is a selection of units taken from the focus population that can be used in order to make statements about that specific population (Blaikie & Priest, 2019, p.190). In this study, sampling was done on two different levels using judgement sampling which means that the sample is chosen deliberately instead of randomly (Collins, 2010, p.179). First I had to choose which companies to focus on. The population could then be seen as fashion companies that have experienced crises and used social media to communicate. The units then become the specific companies. I found several companies that have experienced crises that are racially charged but decided to focus on Gucci and Prada as I wanted two companies that are as similar as possible with regards to their status in the fashion industry. They also had an interesting connection regarding the timing of the crises and the type of crises as they both dealt with issues of blackface imagery.

The second sampling refers to the collection of twitter posts from the population of crisis communication posts on social media. The units are the unique crisis

communication responses posted on Twitter by the companies in this research. After choosing a timeframe I read the posts one by one and selected the ones that I found had direct connections to the crises. This type of sampling, judgement sampling, may however be criticized due to the risk of researcher bias (Collins, 2010, p.179). What I find to be an appropriate sample might differ to what someone else thinks. If another person had used the same sampling method, the sample might have turned out

differently. Nevertheless, a random sample would instead include the risk of missing out on important crisis responses and would therefore not be an appropriate sampling

method for this particular project. Despite risk of researcher bias I believe it was the best option for this study. Nonetheless, it is important to be aware of its limitations. In addition to these two levels of sampling, I performed a third random sampling when choosing the twitter comments which serve as examples of audience reactions. I simply chose the first two comments that showed under each twitter post. Some might argue that this sample is not random as I deliberately chose the first two comments. However, previous experience in studying social media made me aware of the fact that the

comments that show when I open a website might be different to what someone else might see when opening the same website, possibly due to algorithms. The comments that showed when I opened the twitter page were therefore random as they were “chosen” by Twitter. As mentioned briefly in the discussion on ethics I therefore

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decided to archive these without masking to make it possible for someone else to use the information and to find the same tweet.

5.4 Data Collection and Data Analysis

Aristotle made an early definition of rhetoric as the art of knowing how to persuade (Eyman, 2015, p.14) and Burke (in Eyman, 2015) claimed that “wherever there’s persuasion, there’s rhetoric” (Ibid, p.12). As the image repair theory is defined as a persuasive communications discourse this study conducted a qualitative rhetorical analysis, using Benoits typology of image repair to interpret the rhetoric of the selected image repair messages on Twitter.The decision to focus on qualitative data in the shape of Twitter posts only was based on the research conducted by Triantafillidou and

Yannas (2020) who studied different crisis responses on three different social medias (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) and found that Twitter responses received the most positive reactions from the audience. One could therefore assume that Twitter could be an important tool for the company when engaging in crisis communication

(Triantafillidou & Yannas, 2020, p.8).

Before I collected the data I had to decide on a timeframe: when did the crises start and when did they end and could they possibly have continued communicating the crises even after the end? I decided that the posts that caught attention and started the debate on Twitter would be seen as the starting-points for each crisis. However, it is far more difficult to say when a crisis ends or if it has ended. The crises are unique and could therefore have different lengths depending on how the crisis communication is received by the audiences. To not risk excluding any important data, I decided to search from the starting-point of the crisis until the second half of June 2020. The timeframes chosen are therefore December 13th _{2018 (Prada) and February 6}th_{2019 (Gucci) to 18}th_{of June}

2020. I identified 12 crisis communication posts in total. One might argue that the timeframe is too broad, but due to developments in society I found it interesting to explore the crises in a time where racial debates are becoming more and more prominent. In the beginning of June this year, the Black Lives Matter movement brought further attention to racial inequalities through protests that expanded overseas. As it is difficult to say when a crisis has reached its end, I wanted to investigate whether or not the current debates affect these crises in any way.

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Between the 13th_{of December 2018 and 18}th_{of June 2020 there were a total of 1,445}

posts made on Prada’s official Twitter of which four posts contained crisis responses directly aimed at the specific crisis. Two of them contained photos of official press releases. Between the 6th_{of February and 18}th_{of June there was a total of 1,732 posts}

posted on Gucci’s official Twitter. I managed to identify 8 posts that contained crisis responses directly aimed at the crisis. All of them contained photos of official press releases or announcements. In most of the crisis response posts it is necessary to click on the photos to be able to read the full information. Therefore, I decided to count the photo as separate pieces of data. The reason for that is that people can choose not to read it or to only read one out of two photos in the same post, which means that they would not receive the information that it contains.

To easily differentiate the posts in the analysis I quantified the data by giving each unit a unique number, for example P1 which refers to Prada’s first tweet and G1 which refers to Gucci’s first tweet. The amount of crisis responses from both companies

confirms that a crisis is rarely dealt with through one single message but by multiple. To simplify the analysis of the tweets I used the table on the following page, created by Benoit to enhance the most prominent characteristics of the different concepts within the typology.

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General Strategy Tactic Example

Denial Simple Denial I did not embezzle money Shift Blame Steve took your wallet, not

me

Evade Responsibility Provocation I insulted you but only after you criticized me

Defeasibility I was late because traffic delayed me

Accident Our collision was an accident Good Intentions I didn’t tell you because I

hoped to fix the problem first

Reduce Offensiveness Bolstering Think of all the times I helped you

Minimization I broke your vase, but it was not an expensive one Differentiation I borrowed your laptop

without asking; I didn’t steal it

Transcendence Searching travelers at the airport is an inconvenience, but it protects against terrorism

Attack Accuser Joe says I embezzled money, but he is a chronic liar Compensation Because the waiter spilled a

drink on your clothes, we’ll give you desert for free

Corrective action Because the waiter spilled a drink on your suit, we’ll have it dry cleaned

Mortification I’m sorry I offended you. I

regret hurting your feelings and I apologize

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6. Result and Analysis

6.1 “Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone…”

On December 13th 2018 Chinyere Ezie posted this message on Twitter as she had spotted the Pradamalia collection in a Prada window in Soho, New York. It is in this study considered as the starting-point of the crisis. Reactions collected from the

comments of this post expressed for example that “A bunch of white people approved it. This is what happens when there isn’t diversity in the workplace” (Appendix B).

Another twitter user asked “Have you been to Italy? These black face figures are

everywhere. So casually.. “ (Appendix B). Prada produced their first crisis response one day after Ezie’s post had gone viral. See Appendix A to read the original Prada tweets. P1 was posted on the 14th of December and starts by signaling that the message is part one out of two [1/2]. They then state that ‘Prada group abhors racist imagery’ and further explain the true concept of Pradamalia and claim that it has got nothing to do with the real world and ‘certainly not blackface’. That’s where the message ends. Two twitter users are asking “Do y’all have eyes?! Are you literally & figuratively blind?! IT.IS.BLACKFACE! Shame on you! ALL of you on that design and final approval team!” (Appendix B) as well as “For an “imaginary creature! Why did a monkey-like blackface character reminiscent of the racist Jim Crow south in the 1940’s make its debut on your purses? Who thought of that character & where did the inspiration for the design come from just out of the blue?” (Appendix B). What we can observe from the rhetoric in Prada’s message is that the company is minimizing the act by explaining the

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intended meaning of the product and denying that it would have any reference to blackface. In other words, it could be understood as a way of saying that they believe the audience has misunderstood the product and that the design is not as bad as they think. However, despite denying the reference to blackface they seem to not be denying the act, neither do they acknowledge it. Another thing we do not see in the message is an apology. This crisis response could at first sight be considered as a way to reduce offensiveness by minimizing the seriousness of the act. However, this belief might change after reading part 2.

P2 is the second part of the first message and was posted less than 1 minute after. We read that they ‘never had the intention of offending anyone’ and they also repeat that they ‘abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery’. They finish by stating that ‘in this interest’ they have decided to withdraw the characters from ‘display and circulation’. Like the first message, this response does not contain any apology. However, by expressing that their intention was not to offend anyone they acknowledge that people have in fact been offended. As a result they decided to remove the product. Reactions from the audience included statements such as “Seriously, your designers need to be replaced. Come on……..I’m sure a higher up was in on the deal too. Got to go too!”(Appendix B) and “Why companies need diversity on teams…..Shit like this wouldn’ve never been approved for stores nor circulation” (Appendix B).The crisis response that Prada used is a corrective action according to Benoit’s typology as the company acknowledges the offense and removes the product from sale to return to the state that was before the crisis.

The two messages came within 1 day after the crisis started which is in line with Huang and DiStaso’s (2020) ideas about responding fast. Knowing that P1 and P2 are two parts of the same message I find that the company has used a mixed strategy where they attempt to reduce offensiveness by minimizing the act as well as take corrective action. However, the choice to divide one message into two could be questioned. The

algorithms of social media timelines might affect who sees the messages and who does not, and audiences might read one message but scroll past the second one. If we look at the attention the messages have received, we see that part one has almost 400 more likes and 500 more shares or comments than part two. This shows that the first message has sparked more interest among the audience than the second one. If people have only read the first message, they have been informed that Prada denies the reference to blackface

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but they do not know if Prada has taken any action to solve the problem. These two categories in the image repair typology might trigger different reactions among audiences.

P3 was posted three days after the start of the crisis and two days after the first crisis response. It consists of a primary message accompanied with a photo of a press release. This message will thus be treated as two types of data. In the primary message Prada states that they are committed to producing products that are a celebration of diversity. They clarify that the offensive Pradamalia characters are removed from the market and that they are taking actions to learn from this experience. Once again they are

acknowledging that people have been offended by the act but they also add another dimension of the corrective action which is that they are taking actions as in ‘immediate steps to learn from this’.

When reading the press release, P3.1, one immediately sees that they start with the same sentence and statement as in the primary message which creates a link between the two. Prada wants to make it clear that their products are intended to celebrate diversity. They then continue by stating that ‘we would like to convey our deep regret and sincere apologies for the Pradamalia products that were offensive’. This type of rhetoric falls under the category of mortification as they are clearly expressing regret and offering sincere apologies at the same time as they’re acknowledging that some products were offensive. Additionally, in line with corrective action they give hands-on information on exactly how they will proceed to prevent similar things from happening in their future such as the decision of implementing an Advisory Council to improve their diversity training. Finally, they state that they have listened to their audience and decided to donate proceeds from the products in question to an organization that fights racial injustice. This could be interpreted as a compensation for the wrongful act, which according to the typology is a part of reducing offensiveness. The audience asked for something and the company gave it to them. It is interesting to see that there are traces of three different response strategies in this press release.

P4 is the last post made by Prada directly aimed at the crisis. It consists of a primary message and two photos of a press release. This message is thus seen as three types of data. It was posted on the 14th of February which is two months after the crisis started. It is an announcement of the two people that will co-chair in their Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council. To be able to know more one has to click on the photos, but some

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people might just scroll past them. In that case, the primary message remains a statement where Prada wants to show that they are proceeding with the work they announced in the previous post where the Advisory Council was first introduced. To know exactly how they will proceed, it is necessary to open the photos.

P4.1 and P4.2 are two parts of the same announcement, written 13th of February for immediate release but posted on Twitter on the 14th. Prada wants to show not just that they are continuing the work they announced in the previous post but they also want to show exactly what it is that they are doing. Introducing the two people that will co-chair the Council could also be a way of showing that they are partnering with the right people to ensure quality in their work. However, this message does not fit under any category in the image repair theory. One could question if it is a part of the crisis communication or if it should be seen as general image maintenance instead. It is connected to the measures that were taken in December. Nevertheless, it posted two months later. With the issue of timing in mind, would this message have any effect on audience perceptions regarding the crisis or is it posted too late to make any difference? It is possible that the audience might already have moved on, or maybe they are still affected by it as another crisis appeared almost at the same time as this announcement? Maybe it is possible for another company’s crises to have an effect on the length and perception of this crisis. The idea is interesting as each crisis can be seen as unique, but at the same time they could be connected.

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6.2 “Gucci deeply apologizes…”

In the case of Gucci, there was no single post that created the social media firestorm but several. However, this post is one of the first ones on Twitter to notify the audience of the balaclava jumper and to criticize it. It will therefore serve as starting-point to the crisis. One twitter user reacted the post by stating that “First came #Prada, Then came #Gucci. And everyone keeps buyin' their stuff anyway. No way they didn't see what that sweater & that keychain looked like. People "owned" slaves. Now we're slaves to labels? Not w/ this girl. #BlackFace” (Appendix D). However, another user replied to the original tweet by explaining that “I'm European heritage. I didn't get how it was blackface either til I saw all the pictures in these replies of how dark skinned people were portrayed in dolls/cartoons. There are people like me who were raised without prejudice; we weren't exposed to those negative portrayals.” (Appendix D). Gucci gave their first reaction to the issue one day later. See Appendix C to read the original Gucci tweets.

G1 was the first crisis response posted by Gucci on the 7th of February. Looking at the hour, one can see that it was posted less than 24 hours after the start of the crisis. The posts consists of a primary message and a photo containing the full statement. The primary message starts off with an immediate apology ‘for the offense caused by the wool balaclava jumper’. The apology is clear and so is the acknowledgement of the offense. They continue by clarifying their belief in diversity and that it should be included in and ‘at the forefront’ of all decisions they make. The crisis response alone

Crisis Communication and the Fashion Industry : Image Repairing in Racially Charged Crises