Like Johnny Manziel, other high-profile athletes have been in situations putting their reputations at risk.
The five cases included in our research cover Michael Vick, LeBron James, Alex Rodriguez, Terrell Owens and Michael Phelps. These will help us to further understand the different public relations methods used during a crisis situation.
The Michael Vick case is more severe than Manziel’s diva behavior, but it helps to cover a wide range of crises and responses. Vick was the ringleader for a dogfighting chain and encouraged the killing of bad performing dogs.
After his 18-month stay in prison, Vick didn’t focus his publicity on being remorseful for what he had done, but on proving to people he had changed. He got involved with the Humane Society to eradicate dog fighting and traveled to schools to educate children on the proper treatment of animals.
Michael Vick– Dog fighting/ Animal Abuse
- Eradicate dog fighting with Humane Society
- Travel to educate children on proper animal care
- Show he changed by his actions
The LeBron James case emphasizes that people get their information more from social media than any other news outlet. So most people are hearing fabricated stories before they hear the truth.
The fact that LeBron shared his moving teams with his fans on “The Decision” caused huge controversy. It was a HUGE deal. Fan involvement is a crucial part of fan perception of an athlete. The LeBron James case discusses how the different types of fan involvement create different reactions during a crisis or scandal.
LeBron James– Switched Teams
- Came out on television special “The Decision”
- Outraged more fans with low involvement than high
- Fans with deeply rooted feelings about LeBron were more likely to stand by him
Alex Rodriguez has undergone a lot of heat in the public for steroid use. His strategy for addressing it to the public was by use of television. His main strategy was to bolster the situation—he shifted the attention to how honest he for coming clean rather than choosing to continue the lie.
Alex Rodriguez– Steroid Use
- Bolstering
- Shifted attention to his honesty
- Highlighted more important characteristics of himself
- Mortification
- Admits use of steroids and asks for forgiveness
- Blame
- Too much pressure to perform
Terrell Owens’ is known for being a diva, much like Johnny Manziel. After Owens’ public controversy over his contract and countless other inappropriate antics, Owens attempted certain strategies to fix his damaged reputation.
Terrell Owens– Bad Attitude
- Bolstering
- Highlights his great football playing in Press conference
- Highlights he’s a fighter
- Mortification
- He apologized to everybody in Press Releases
Owens was able to create common grounds with his fans using these techniques although he never said he would change his ways.
Michael Phelps was successfully able to repair his image after marijuana allegations. The first thing he did was apologize and admit it was wrong and that it won’t happen again. He was able to restore his reputation mainly by the use of bolstering.
Michael Phelps– Marijuana
- Mortification
- He acknowledged the behavior and said it demonstrated bad judgment
- Bolstering
- He reminded people he is a gold medal Olympian
- He is young and acted youthful
- Corrective Action
- He promises it will not happen again
Because of Phelps’ reputation and image, he had a lot of sponsors such as Speedo and Visa also administering bolstering and minimizing tactics for his actions.
The most common tactic used by all these athletes is bolstering as a response to a crisis. The go-to reaction seems to be, “yeah I did this, but THIS is more important to focus on” with example X, Y and Z listed as reasons why.
PR Programming 2013 - 9:30 a.m. 