Following my presentation at the recent Reggae Conference on ‘Reggae’s Crisis of Image : What Role for Public Relations and Crisis Management’ and its reproduction in the The Sunday Observer of February 21, 2010, I was invited to discuss the issue on TVJ’s Morning Time programme. It was an invitation I accepted since it is my strong belief that the music industry (and if one wants to expand this to say successive Jamaican governments) have not yet understood the value of public relations, strategic communication, customer service, reputation management and crisis management.
Following my appearance on TVJ, I got a call from DJ Capleton’s manager, Claudette Kemp. Her call was not to enquire anbout the tenets of crisis management or how best to employ strategic communication to navigate the crisis of cancellations her artiste continue to face. She said she wished to ‘reeducate me about homophobia”. I realised that the premise upon which she wished to have a discussion had negated the genuine realities confronting the Jamaican music industry, I excused myself from the conversation. Many industry people remain in denial about the issues or choose to take a defensive, attack-the accuser-stance in negotiating their way out of the present situation. Those strategies are unsustainable. I address below what I meant by crisis and the reasons image restoration strategies should be preferred over defensive strategies in repairing some of the damage done to reggae’s image abroad.
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Issues (problems, trouble etc) which are ignored especially in different camps usually germinate into crises for the music as a whole. What is a Crisis? According to Kathleen Fearn-Banks, author of Crisis Communications: A Casebook Approach “a crisis is a major occurrence with a potentially negative outcome affecting the organization, individual, or industry, as well as its publics, products, services, or good name.”
Despite the persistent challenges faced by Jamaican music industry and many of its reggae and danechall artistes, there has been litte by way of effective crisis management or real public Relations. Public Relations is ‘a management function which seeks to foster and maintain through deliberate planning mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its various publics on whom its success or failure depends’ (Cutlip & Centre, 2007).
Note that nowhere in this definition is the word publicity. PR practitioners in the industry often confuse publicity and promotions (ie getting the artiste in the media) for effective public relations. Publicity is merely a tool in the public relations armoury. This comes home especially in moments of crisis.
THE ROLE OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT?
Could strategic intervention about Jamaica’s position on homophobia (outside the Prime Minister’s unfortunate diatribe on the BBC in 08) using widely known crisis planning and reputation management practices have averted the banning of artistes; the labelling of reggae as ‘hate music, the enactment of legislation in some European countries in which reggae dancehall is labelled ‘Music harmful to children/society’? Could such strategies have softened the impact of this crisis and lessened its severity?
One answer – YES. It is the job of public relations professionals to develop communication strategies to “…influence the course of a conflict to benefit the organization/individual and, when possible, to benefit their many constituents.” (Cameron,. & Wilcox, 2009, p246). Writing in Public Relations Review, Philip Gaunt and Jeff Ollenburger describe crisis management as a reactionary process that tends to deal with an issue after it becomes public knowledge and affects the company/individual. It often requires the public relations professional to influence conflict reduction. But studies have shown that the majority of organizational crises are self-inflicted, because management ignored early warning signs. It’s reached the point where artistes are unable to foresee potential disasters… And their management – by blinding themselves to it – has largely allowed those disasters to happen.
The limited response to the ongoing homophobia issue particularly regarding Buju Banton has by all accounts seemingly rolled over into the latest controversy involving his arrest. Aside from a few news updates from the media featuring vague statements by his lawyers in the days following his arrest; no coordinated damage control has been effected; no accounting to the artistes numerous publics – fans; patrons, sponsors, promoters, etc. We do not want the artiste’ case to be tried in the media by any means; but it would appear that some in the industry have’nt quite worked out the complexities of the gorilla-sized problem that has been allowed to mature.
Since Buju Banton was undoubtedly the poster boy for anti-homphobia campaigns in music for more than a decade, it is extraordinary that the management outfit had no crisis plan for what industry colleagues, fans and – and face it – rivals saw coming 1000 miles away. As a result Banton has found himself in a vicious set of circumstances which see him effectively putting his potentially biggest money-making album – Rasta Got Soul - and current promotions in “recess” while awaiting trial in a US Federal Prison.
Not all PR crises will offer as clear-cut solution; however it would have been useful for a practitioner to monitor the issue over time, look out for potential threats to the artiste career and reputation, assess them, arrive at a stance, then begin communication efforts from that stance. This is not hard; just requires professional alertness from a PR point of view.
WHAT TO DO DURING A CRISIS
Many professionals offer good checklists on what to do during a crisis: Put the public first, Take responsibility, Be honest, Never say “no comment”, and Designate a single spokesperson. Of course, not all organizations respond to a crisis in the same way. W. Timothy Coombs has a Ph. D in Issues Management and Public Affairs, and more than 20 years experience in the field. Coombs suggests that the response may vary on a continuum from defensive to accommodative. Which approach is selected depends on the situation and stance/position taken by the organisation. He points out that it is important for organisations to consider the accommodative strategies (ingratiation, corrective action, full apology) if defensive strategies (attack accuser, denial, excuse) are ineffective.
“Accommodative strategies emphasize image repair, which is what is needed as image damage worsens. Defensive strategies…logically become less effective as you are viewed as more responsible for the crisis.” (Coombs, 2009, p246). “To come out and say ‘batty man fe dead’ or ‘burn batty man’ and then offer no clarification, qualification or rectification when you are pressed again a very public and global wall is not only an appalling display of poor judgement buit it’s in very poor taste.
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Yet, even so, we see where some artiste have seen and used the value of strategic communication to their benefit. There is the example of Assassin whom was issued a public reprimand by Red Stripe after a very vulgar performance sponsored by the drink company. Assassin and his team responded immediately saying he provided a set list and rehearsed all songs in their entirety, including the homophobic set and the promoters were alerted to this and did not offer any objections. In this regard, the artiste insisted that he did not breach his contract with the promoters. Red Stripe issued an apology to him!
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
The Jamaican music industry must take greater account of reputation management. “In plain terms, reputation is the track record of an individual in the public’s mind…unlike image, reputation is owned by the public. A good reputation can be created and destroyed by everything an /individual does.” One of the challenges Jamaican music faces is that its artistes are infamous for pulling off stunts such as badmanism, vulgarity and the like- and are accustomed to getting fwds to these kinds of daring displays. As a consequence, refuse to apologise for wrongdoing.
Rest assured that while defensive strategies may sometimes aid a situation, the artiste in crisis must move into what is called the ‘accommodative stage of image restoration’. While one may feel ‘angry and frustrated, it is important to quickly conform to some negotiated settlement. The final accommodative strategy of “mortification” must also be applied in circumstances where some wrong was done. A sincere apology is often times satisfactory to quell a crisis. Of course, individuals with a questionable track record will find it difficult to express an apology that is viewed as sincere.
To overcome this, artistes are obliged to give due attention to ‘customer service” – treating their publics with respect and consider how these publics/ stakeholders perceive the situation. This can help communicators determine which strategy will be best suited to rebuilding the stakeholder-client relationship and restoring the individual’s original reputation.
FIVE STRATEGIES FOR IMAGE RESTORATION
Professor William Benoit of the University of Missouri offers five general strategies (and a number of sub-strategies) for image restoration – Denial, Evade Responsibility, Reduce offensiveness, Corrective action and Mortification. Throughout the duration of the crisis, one is given only a small window of time in which to apologise. To say ‘no comment’ is to leave yourself without a public voice and unable to defend themselves ina situation of scandal. It says there is in fact something to comment on but I choose to not address it. The media tends to dig deeper in this regard. Their business is to seek and record comment.
LUCIANO – EFFECTIVE DAMAGE CONTROL
When reggae artiste, Luciano was accused of harbouring criminals at his house, he exercised four of Benoit’s five strategies throughout his predicament. Luciano initially set out his defensive strategies of initially evading responsibility. In Luciano’s own words, “I did not know these men were wanted by the police’. This response satisfies the definition of defeasibility, where an organisation or individual explains how he/she was unable to avoid the action which took place.
The second strategy employed, reducing offensiveness, has a number of components which include differentiation, transcendence, attack the accuser and compensation. Differentiation is sometimes applied by distinguishing an event from other similar occurrences. In the statement offered by Luciano and his team during the crisis, it was implied that it is not extraordinary for artistes to have legions of fans willing to hang out at artiste premises and assume roles of protector. The accommodative strategies employed by Luciano also included corrective action and mortification. The former tactic is employed to ensure prevention of a similar incident occurring, while the latter involves the offer of a sincere apology. In his statement, Luciano apologized profusely to a variety of publics– family, fans, patrons, promoters, sponsors, etc.
Accommodative strategies of corrective action and mortification are the most useful as they tend to put more credibility to the process and adds sincerity to the image restoration process. If executed well, these strategies are likely to contribute to neutralizing the crisis and the resumption of good relationships between the artiste in crisis and his or publics. Many times however, reggae and dancehall artistes vent their frustrations in a controversy and misguidedly apply the “attack the accuser” element of defense by attempting to reduce the credibility of the accusations/and the accuser or downplay the seriousness of the offence.
FOR EXAMPLE: American rapper Chris Brown could have foolishly adopted this stance in his controversy involving fellow artiste and then girlfriend, Rhianna last year. But to reduce the perceived severity of the crisis facing him/his career, Chris Brown not only sought the help of a professional crisis management agency, he sought and accepted professional counseling/anger management and granted interviews in which he took stock of his actions and apologised in hopes of rectifying the situation.
CRISIS COMMUNICATION
Given that the popularity and success of many entertainers in Jamaica can be attributed outlandish behaviour and shock value, the communication strategies applied to repair their image in a crisis will always going to be a challenge. Artistes in crisis are however obliged to acknowledge failings, apologise, and then put the events in the past as quickly as possible. We see where Tiger Woods failed to do this in recent personal crisis. Rhianna waited nine months to craft an appropriate response. She could get away with this enormous delay only because she was positioned as athe victim in the situation. When she finally addressed the crisis, she did so appropriately and the benefit was that she gained tremendous sympathy from the American public. Chris Brown immediately sought a PR agency to derive a response and rectify potential damage to his reputation and image. Late night host, David Letterman recently immediately acknowledged his wrongdoing, rectified the situation by adopting corrective action and moved forward.
CONCLUSION
Unfortunately, there is little inbuilt restraint in the Jamaican culture where sponsors, media, and patrons withdraw their support from artistes who operate in ways which contradict public decency. Aside from a business collective backlash in 2005, artistes continue to benefit from commercial endorsements, to feature on family programmes, idolized by the media through glorifying coverage. The issues that continue to plague artistes and the Jamaican music industry are plenty; yet we have trivialised the problem to our dilemma. We have presented ongoing crises as something that’s for popular entertainment…and we now have a situation where we have planted the seeds which have begun to do some damage to the name and image of ‘reggae’.
Sadly, the Jamaican music industry finds itself deficient in that it has not prepared itself for potential crises such as those challenging some artistes on the intl stage. The management outfit of artistes – many times, do not appear to have prudent control over the image and reputation of artistes outside of usual publicity. Again, Publicity is not public relations. It is merely tool of public relations. The critical element is relationship building, and attention to customer service. It is this favourable relationship between the artistes and his/her publics and favourable opinion that becomes fundamental to reputation management and crucial when faced with a crisis. It is thus important to have educated and trained professionals operating within the industry to tackle on a professional serious basis some of the genuine issues facing artistes and the industry which requires effective damage control to remedy.
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Dr Hume Johnson lectures Public Relations and Journalism in Australia. She has over 15 years experience as a publicist in the Reggae Music Industry. Write her at humejohnson@gmail.com
Ranked as one of the leading communication specialists and political analysts in Jamaica, Dr Hume Johnson is a most sought after consultant, strategic advisor and media trainer. A broadcast journalist by training, Dr Johnson has over 15 years of professional experience in television & radio broadcasting, as well as in strategic communication and public relations. Her expertise in political communication and active engagement in the Jamaican public sector won her top-notch clients including high-level Government officials, entertainers and business executives. Dr Johnson served as a specialist speech writer within the Ministry of National Security (Jamaica); researcher with former State Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, Delano Franklyn, and was an executive member of the Youth Advisory Council of former Prime Minister of Jamaica Hon. P J Patterson. Her outstanding work, in building the image and brands of iconic Jamaican entertainers Tony Rebel (and reggae festival Rebel Salute), Queen Ifrica and Lymie Murray is also well regarded.
“You have to be firm. You have to use some force where it is necessary and you have to know how to use it. Civil society has lost control in Jamaica, so you have to have a firm strong personality [referring to the job of Police Commissioner] who knows strategy and tactic and who knows how to contend with the criminal elements”.
