Is the Pope cooriented?
In public relations, it is important to be on the same wave-length as your publics. There have been several events recently that suggest that many organizations do not understand how important coorientation (see Cutlip, Center & Broom, 2006, pp. 211-217) is for successful issues management.
The Pope’s PR blunder is one account of the Vatican’s recent PR missteps. In an unusual move, Pope Benedict XVI explained remarks made in a speech that characterized Mohammed as evil. The explanation came after reports of the comment fueled protests by Muslims around the world. This event comes amidst concerns about the effectiveness of the person’s vetting the Pope’s speeches and now the hiring of a new Vatican communications director. Some commentators characterized the explanation as an apology and others did not. Referring to what you now know about public opinion formation, what can we learn from the Vatican’s experience? What does this event suggest about the Pope’s coorientation with his publics?
In another episode, Methodist Hospital in Indiana decided to take an approach of full disclosure when infants died of an overdose. “Hospitals, like other industries, increasingly are adopting a new attitude: Apologies and restitution aren't just a smart way to save their reputations, they're ethically necessary to help heal families' emotional trauma when deadly errors occur (¶5). Which of the theories do you think would best explain this approach of full disclosure? Are the problems with this approach?
Finally, are you eating spinach yet? Following the recent E. coli scare with bagged spinach, the United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association will launch a new advertising campaign putting the leafy green vegetable front and center. An article in Advertising Age not only outlines this campaign set to roll when the FDA lifts its restrictions, but also raises the ethical question about other firms seeking to capitalize on the E. coli bacteria problem. What is your opinion of the Fit Fruit & Vegetable Wash folks? Is there any theory to help us understand whether this advertising campaign will work or not?
posted by prteacher @ 9/24/2006 05:49:00 PM
3 Comments:
The Pope’s situation is an interesting one and could have been avoided if he had worded his comments more carefully or not even discussed the issue at all. I agree with Jenine when she said the comments were probably taken out of context because of different perceptions that the Vatican held versus that of the public. Being such a highly followed public figure, the Pope needs to be respectful of other beliefs even if he disagrees with them. These comments not only created a problem because of their blunt nature, but also because all those in the audience were not in the Pope’s social environment or frame of reference, such as in the Vatican, or part of the Catholic Church (202). In this situation, there was no agreement or similar understanding of the issue between the Pope and the public. This means that the coorientation between the Pope and the general public is lacking at this point in time.
As far as the Methodist Hospital goes, I think this policy illustrates an area of open systems theory, cybernetics (183). The hospital is regulating the communication that flows out of its information center to achieve a goal of gaining credibility from its public by being honest and forthcoming about all situations. I think this is a good idea in the long run for an organization to implement this kind of policy although it might hurt them in the short run. This keeps “skeletons out of the closet” and will most likely give the organization credibility over time.
The Fit Fruit and Vegetable Wash people, in my opinion, are probably taking advantage of the situation. Because their product is not proven to work on E. coli, they should not market it at this to say that it does or even could so that customers are not misled about the effectiveness. If they do take advantage of the situation, it could lead to much larger problem than the E. coli scare.
The Pope’s comments about the Muslim religion attacked people’s beliefs, which are the hardest to change. Because his comments attacked people’s religious beliefs, they were really upset. The Pope and his communications team failed to realize that everyone listens to what he says, not just Catholics, because the Pope is a very public figure. Although the Pope was quoting someone from the 14th Century, he and his communications team also failed to realize that what was acceptable then is not acceptable now. A speech that was given in the 14th Century probably did not reach more people than the immediate audience of the speech. With technology today, a Pope’s speech will reach the rest of the world. While I understand that the Pope does not believe that the Muslim religion is correct because he is Catholic, he should be a bit more politically correct in order to not incite riots and unrest in other parts of the world.
Methodist Hospital in Indiana used the public opinion formation theory to make the decision to fully disclose everything. How people perceive the causes of the deaths and what the hospital is doing to prevent future deaths through the media will determine how they will respond to Methodist Hospital. In the case of one death, it may be enough for the hospital to say “sorry.” In the case of several deaths, it is not enough. There may be a problem with full disclosure which is that their reputation may become worse. By disclosing everything, more dirty laundry may be aired and information may come out about the hospital knowing what they were doing was dangerous, but deciding not to fix the problem.
The fruit and vegetable people are capitalizing on the spinach people’s misfortunes and mistakes. While their ad may help their business in the short run, it will probably have no effect on their business in the long run. When spinach is finally declared safe to eat again, people will most likely start buying the spinach that says it was washed with the special wash. After a while, people will forget about the E.Coli in spinach and they will stop looking to see if the spinach they buy is washed with the special wash.
The text quotes Walter Lippmann as saying “What seems to be true is often more influential than what really is true…perceptions are far more influential than reality defined more objectively” (p. 217). An example in which this rings quite true is Pope Benedict XVI’s comments about Islam.
As other bloggers have stated, very few topics are more controversial than religion. Because of this, and because the Pope is such an influential figure, I believe it would have behooved the Pope to retract his statement. The whole “taken out of context” argument rarely appeases the offended publics. And if crisis management is perception management, the Pope himself and not just his public relations staff should have realized the potential for his comments to be taken the wrong way. Catholicism is one of the largest organized religions in the world; the Pope’s responsibility it to the church, but also to all Catholics. His comments not only had the potential to offend, but to also put into danger all the Catholics around the world (especially those who live in Muslim countries).
The public relations practitioners working at Methodist Hospital, on the other hand, should be praised for their sensitivity and forward-thinking. What struck me about this article is how the how the CEO is repeatedly quoted in the article, but you know that a savvy public relations person is behind him with a master plan! Three news conferences and a hospital tour – I’m sure he didn’t come up with that on his own! In this instance, an ounce of goodwill will do wonders for the reputation of this hospital. People pass away every day at hospitals worldwide, from both natural causes and hospitals’ mistakes. The fact that Methodist Hospital is apologizing is not only ethical, but smart in the long run in terms of public perception.
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