Public relations in the hottest crisis must not be

Crisis public relations must not be "overbearing"

crisis public relations must not be "overbearing." "excellent enterprises survive the crisis. Ordinary enterprises die out in the crisis, and only great enterprises develop themselves in the crisis."

－ Andy, former CEO of Intel Grove

if the "top ten embarrassments" in advertising and public relations in 2003 are selected, FAW Toyota's "problem advertising" storm at the end of the year can rank second even if it does not rank first. As a public relations professional, the author is not qualified and has no intention to point fingers at the creativity of advertising, but the development of the whole event is a typical case of "crisis public relations". From this perspective, it is quite valuable to analyze

cause of event

first, play back the whole event

in November, FAW Toyota launched three new cars "Land Cruiser", "domineering" and "sharp" in China, and published an advertisement for the synthesis of three new cars of high molecular weight carbon dioxide based plastics in the 12th issue of friends of automobiles magazine. The content of the advertisement on pages 8 to 9 is: a Toyota 'overbearing' off-road vehicle driving on the road attracted the sideways eyes of a stone lion beside the road, and a stone lion also raised its right paw to salute. The text of the advertisement is "overbearing, you have to respect". The advertisements on pages 56 to 57 are: on the rugged mountain road in the wild, a Toyota "Land Cruiser" off-road vehicle goes uphill, and a heavy looking "Dongfeng" truck is pulled on the iron chain behind it

these two advertisements immediately caused an uproar among readers after they were published. Many friends made comments on Sina auto channel, Tom, xcar and other professional stations, saying that the two advertisements of Toyota insulted the Chinese people. China needs a new political leader with courage and a sense of mission, perseverance and wisdom, which hurts the self-esteem of the Chinese people. Within almost two days, "anger" was spread to print media, and many major domestic newspapers were the first to report, becoming a widely concerned social hot spot that needs to use a constant speed tensile testing machine

under such circumstances, the three units related to problem advertising have to take up their positions

first of all, friends of cars magazine published a letter of apology entitled "apologize to readers for Toyota's overbearing advertisements in the 12th issue of 2003" on December 2. The letter of apology said, "due to our low political level, we failed to find out some pictures that are easy to make people associate and hurt national feelings in the advertising picture. After the advertisement was published, many readers wrote to inquire. We have recognized the seriousness of the problem, and here, we sincerely apologize to the readers who have cared about and supported friends of automobiles for many years."

December 3, Shengshi Great Wall international advertising company, the production company of the two advertisements, publicly apologized through Sina Auto Channel: "We have noticed that some readers' understanding of the land cruiser and overbearing print ads is different from the original intention of the ads. we attach great importance to the uneasiness caused by these two ads among readers and are deeply sorry. The original intention of our ads is only the publicity and sales of cars, with no other intention."

on December 4, Toyota of Japan and FAW Toyota issued a public apology letter on Sina and other major stations, The content is "Toyota Motor Company sincerely apologizes for the unhappiness brought to readers by the recent two advertisements of Chinese made Land Cruisers and overbearing. Toyota Motor Company has stopped the release of these two advertisements. Toyota Motor Company will continue to strive to provide the most satisfactory goods and services for Chinese consumers, which can be said to be an upgrade of leverage, and hopes to continue to receive the support of Chinese consumers." And decided to stop putting two problem advertisements

so far, the public's efforts have not subsided. Some media reports have led the problem to a deeper level, and began to question whether Toyota was "intentional" or "unintentional"? Question whether Toyota "respects" the Chinese market? Wait

of course, most ordinary consumers still accepted the apology of the relevant parties, and the situation did not continue to deteriorate

rapid response

in this incident, all parties involved responded quickly. In particular, "Friends of cars" was the first to apologize, reflecting a high level of management. Since then, Shengshi great wall and Toyota's public apology is only one day away. It was the rapid response of all parties that quickly brought the crisis under control without further "outbreak"

when a crisis occurs, with the expansion and deepening of the crisis, the cost of dealing with and quelling the crisis will also increase exponentially. Therefore, rapid, planned and appropriate response is the "first magic weapon" to prevent the event from deteriorating

the following figure is the famous "crisis curve". The development process of any crisis includes four periods: sudden onset, diffusion, outbreak and recession, and SARS is no exception. If we take actions to contain the crisis in the sudden and spreading period at the beginning of the crisis, the cost is often low and the effect is ideal. Once the outbreak comes, the situation will be difficult to clean up

combined with the case of "Toyota problem advertising", we can see that Toyota took action in time during the period of crisis spread, and thus achieved good results

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" sincerity "is different

the business society is also like a stage, and each enterprise is the actor of the stage. Especially when there is a crisis, the skill and personality of each" actor "are at a glance.

looking at the" Toyota incident ", although there are three parties