The 2018 Starbucks racial profiling scandal created an opportunity to scrutinize media relations. Media relations is the relationship between companies and the media, aimed at furthering the credible progress of such companies. Social media is a current trend in media relations since journalists frequent such platforms to meet their needs (Kesmodel & Brat, 2015). This paper examines whether media relations addressed the Starbucks incident adequately and whether it promulgated a change. It further evaluates whether the social media campaign occasioned by the incident was effective.
Media Relations
The people expect organizations to interact well with them by communicating honestly and authentically. Doing so affirms the organization's credibility (Jensen, 2017). However, just as social media is a platform to assure the public of its credibility, it is also a platform that could paralyze an organization's credibility (Jensen, 2017). Thence, companies should maintain good media relations to manage crises (Kesmodel & Brat, 2015). In this case, media relations are established by maintaining a good social media presence since journalists derive information therein.
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To manage crises, companies must re-establish their credibility to restore the public's faith in their activities. Kim and Brown (2015) provide personal interaction, expertise, welcoming language, and trustworthiness as components that need to be attained to achieve credibility. An evaluation of those components will reveal whether media relations addressed the Starbucks incident adequately.
Personal interaction is the most crucial of all the four components of credibility. Personal interaction with the public portrays transparency, which increases the people's faith in the company (Page &Parnell, 2017). When Starbuck's CEO, Kevin Johnson, got wind of the incident, he cleared his schedule and traveled to Philadelphia to address the situation personally. He also held meetings with the two racial profiling victims to devise methods to ensure that such an incident never happens again. This move assured the public that the company cares.
Expertise is also crucial to a company's credibility. Both the content and appearance of a company's communications should portray a high level of knowledge. In his public communications, Johnson reaffirmed the company's core values, stating that Starbucks believes in making a profit in a way that does not conflict with social good. As such, they acknowledged that a mistake was made, but they still maintained their expertise and professionalism.
Welcoming language is a language that accommodates other people's perspectives. It does not try to control conversations or belittle them. In this regard, Johnson was very acknowledging of his employee's mistake. He did not attempt to justify such actions or give reasons for the same. He publicly condemned the act and even laid off the employee within days of the occurrence of the incident.
Lastly, a company must win the public's trustworthiness. This component sums up the elements mentioned above. Once trust between the people and the company is rebuilt, a company can have regained credibility. Starbucks has not had such a scandal since 2018. This is an indication that such racial profiling actions have never been repeated. This means that Starbucks has restored the public's trust in it. Hence, social media gave Starbucks a platform to rebuild its public relations.
Effectiveness of the Social Media Campaign
The attention of the video, showing the arrest of the two men, got confirms the effectiveness of the social media campaign (Page & Parnell, 2017). Within one weekend, crowds of people had gathered outside a local Starbucks restaurant, prompting a nationwide boycott. Additionally, the company received significant backlash from many people on social media platforms, more so Twitter, demanding an apology and explanation for their actions.
The company's steps to resolve the incident are also a measure of the campaign's effectiveness. Starbuck's CEO made a public apology to the two men who were arrested discriminately. He further sacked the employee responsible for that crisis claiming that such actions did not reflect its identity. He ordered the closure of eight thousand for a day to train his employees on racial bias. He also made numerous communications concerning the incident via interviews, written statements, and holding meetings. Finally, the campaign's effectiveness is ascertained by the fact that there has not been a repeat of such an incident in Starbucks years later.
Conclusion
This paper has linked good media relations to a company's success in public relations. It has affirmed that media provides an opportunity for companies to rebuild their public relations. This has been demonstrated by Starbucks ' successful handling of the racial profiling scandal. The paper has also established that the social media campaign concerning racial profiling was practical, given the significant response to the video, both by Starbuck's management and the public.
References
Jensen, E. (2017, May 15). Looking to the future: Restoring public trust in the media . NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2017/05/15/528158488/looking-to-the-future-restoring-public-trust-in-the-media
Kesmodel, D., & Brat, I. (2015). Why Starbucks Takes on Social Issues. Wall Street Journal . h ttp://www.wsj.com/articles/why-starbucks-takes-on-social-issues-1427155129
Kim, C. M., & Brown, W. J. (2015). Conceptualizing Credibility in Social Media Places of Public Relations. Public Relations Journal , 9 (4). https://www.prsa.org/intelligence/PRJournal/Vol9/No4/
Page, J. T., & Parnell, L. J. (2017). Introduction to strategic public relations: Digital, global, and socially responsible communication . SAGE Publications.
