Crisis Public Relations - Term Paper one

   

 How the public views a certain event can either boost a company's overall popularity, or it can severely tank a once successful company in a week or two.  In some cases, the public takes an event and aggressively attacks it, and everyone involved. In other cases, the public just brushes the event off and moves on from it quickly. It is hard to know exactly what the public will attach to like a leach and what events they will just float on past. Because of this reason companies spend around 7% to 12% of revenue on Public Relations depending on the size of the company. 

    One case in which the public took something and ran with it, but it ended up working out well for the company is with the Jet2 Holiday jingle. For the travel company Jet2 Holiday Tik Tok helped them to strike absolute gold. In 2022 Jet2 Holiday started a national advertising campaign in the UK. The company wanted to send the message that if a client booked with them then they would be in for a stress free and affordable vacation full of sunshine and rainbows. This campaign was advertised everywhere. From radio stations and television to billboards. 

     This campaign produced great results for the company. However, I do not believe they were prepared for what came next. By mid 2025 the jingle had taken Tik Tok by storm. Even to this day it is hard to open Tik Tok with out hearing the now iconic sound of  " Nothing Beats a Jet2 Holiday...". While Jet2's purpose for the advertisement was to convey that with them you were getting a magical and extravagant vacation for cheap, Tik Tok users used the slogan in everyday settings or when everything went absolutely wrong for the person. Jet 2 embraced this free publicity and even set up a Tik Tok Creator Competition. Jet 2 accepting the trend and in a way joining in on the joke helped to provide the company with an open door to a new generation. Now younger generations across the world, and especially in the United Kingdom, have built a stronger connection with a company that only the older generations had used or cared about. 

    While this twist of PR events helped Jet2 it could have went terribly wrong. Instead of the companies intended message of if you book with them, you will get a peaceful, amazing, and stress-free vacation Tik Tok picking up the slogan and using it for when things go wrong could have made the company look really bad. It could have made it look like the company was essentially lying about being stress-free. However, because of a smart and strategic public relations strategy it has worked out well for the company and reached a new audience without hindering their image. However, for some companies it is a little bit harder for them to catch such a break. 

                             Timeline: Key events in the troubled history of Boeing 737 Max | AP News

  The Boeing Company is one of those companies that are in desperate need of a break, and in some people's opinions maybe even a miracle. In 2017 Boeing announced the 737 Max airplane. This plane would be designed with larger engines. This announcement came after Boeing rival Airbus had just released a new plane completely redesigned. By September of 2018 Boeing had received orders of over 5,000 737 Max jets. On October 29th, 2018, a Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia shortly after takeoff. This crash killed all 189 people on board. On March 10, 2019, another 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff in Ethiopia killing 157 people on board.  After this event all of Boeings 737 Jets around the world was grounded by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. 

  

  Over the years Boeing has tried several times to "fix" the jets and to make amends for their mistakes. Boeing was even approved to begin commercial flights again in the United States after the Federal Aviation Administration approved of a flight- control software update along with other improvements. However, this little bit of positivity does not last long in January of 2021 the U.S. Justice Department charged Boeing with fraud. Even though the company was eventually found not guilty the accusation still came with a lot of bad publicity for the company. And then disaster strikes the Boeing company once again when a panel covering an emergency exit blew off a 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight. From 2020 to 2024 the Boeing company faced a roller coaster ride filled with ups and downs between them on a rise when they come out with plans to make their planes better to their planes being grounded once again. 

    Through all of these ups and downs one would think that the company would be trying everything to keep not only the publics approval but also governments all over the world and airlines. However, Boeing really has not done much to help sooth worried minds or to build their public approval back up, not to mention their stock which has taken some serious plumets in recent years. Starting in 2018 following the first plane crash and then again in 2022 and all of 2024. It has only been here recently that Boeings stock has started to rise again which is due in part to their upcoming deal with China's Suparna Airlines on their newest model of plane. In response to all of these events Boeing has only made a couple of statements and has assured the public and the airlines that their planes are reliable by updating their website. In one's own opinion I do not feel like that is enough. Especially when these statements only come with another failed attempt to make their planes better.  

    
    The public believes that Boeing has not done much to soothe the aches the family members of those that died in the crash or done very much to win back the publics approval. In June of 2024 family members of those that died in the crashes wrote to the Department of Justice to convince them to fine the Boeing Company $24 million dollars. The Families claim that the Boeing company committed 'The deadliest corporate crime in US history' . The Justice Department says that the lapse in safety and mishaps was a violation of the 2021 agreement that helped the company to avoid charges for both of the 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people. Even some airline executives have started to poke fun at the Boeings old mantra that "if it's not Boeing, I'm not going" and saying that it will be turned into "if it's Boeing, it's not going" if Boeing does not reestablish the public's trust. And that is what Boeing has ultimately lost is the peoples trust, and not just here in the United States but around the world.

     You may wonder how can Boeing be responsible for over 346 deaths in the last couple of years, has had all of their 737 planes grounded multiple times, and has done pretty much nothing in order to reassure the public, airlines, and governments of their planes safety and not to mention the $32 Billion Dollars they have lost and yet they are still in business. Well, what has saved this company is that it is part of a duopoly. This means that there are only two manufactures of full-size passenger jets that are in high demand by airlines. And so, Boeing can get away for a little bit with these problems because of their padded pockets for a rainy day, or years, such as these. And since they only have one competitor and they are not really worried about anyone else taking over their top spot, Boeing does not really have to deal with graveling at the public feet for mercy. Ultimately with or without the public's trust Boeing is still going to continue to manufacture planes as long as they can meet the Federal Aviation Administration's guidelines. 

    In conclusion, for some companies the public response and opinions about an event can be a true asset to the company's success. Or it can damage the company's reputation for a little bit or even forever. It can cause people to either gain trust and comfortability or it can lose it just as easily.  Some companies depend on the publics support and can only really thrive whenever the public takes hold of an event and runs with it, in a good way of course. And in some special cases, like with Boeing, the public opinion really does not play that big of a factor in the profitability of the company.