Qantas Crisis: Applying Image Restoration Theory Marliss Allen Department of Art, Communication, and Theatre Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, Oklahoma Introduction It is important to examine this case so that we understand what happened to tarnish Qantas airlines’ good image and how they reacted in their time of crisis. It is important to explore the image restoration theory so we can look at any crisis from the past or present and examine how the company involved decided to apply the methods of the theory so that they can handled the criticisms and the damage applied to their name. We should explore the Qantas crisis using image restoration theory so that we can understand the methods that Qantas used to try and restore their honorable image. Situational Analysis Qantas(Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) is Australia’s largest airline and the world’s leading long distance airline. In 2011, three unions involved with the airline were calling for greater job security, better wages, and better conditions which led to industrial unrest and so Qantas airlines, who argued that the unions’ demands would leave the airline “seriously impaired or destroyed” grounded its entire domestic and international fleet. Both customers and employees were unaware in the time before the grounding happened. Employees were locked out from their jobs for a period of 48 hours before Fair Work Australia ordered an end to the labor dispute “to avoid significant damage to the tourism industry.” A CNN reporter spoke with a passenger of Qantas who said, “It makes me wonder whether I would book with Qantas again.” Even thought there were people angry with Qantas, CNN also interviewed a man that stated, “For a month or two, everyone will be anti- Qantas, there’s no doubt about it but emotion probably gets in the way sometimes.” Richard Woodward, Vice President of the Australian and International pilots’ union said leaving thousands of passenger stranded was “a maniacal overreaction.” (CNN, 2011) Image Restoration Theory Outlines strategies for companies that can be employed to reduce damage to their image in a crisis where reputation has been damaged. There are 5 different strategies associated with Restoration Theory: (1) Denial, (2) Evading Responsibility, (3) Reducing Offensiveness, (4) Corrective Action, and (5) Mortification Application To PR Case Introduction to Application Qantas used social media to their advantage by posting updates on the company lock down and by personally apologizing to customers and responding to concerns via twitter. They used the and they were trending worldwide with approximately 1000 tweets per minute. The initial message on twitter stated that Qantas would lock out its employees and the follow up tweet talked about how the company was grounding all flights. They kept the public updated with news on the case of the employees and the company. They even gave their support for the other airlines that were still sending out flights. Many customers responded well to the efforts of the Qantas airline professionals but there was also a large wave of disapproval. There were several Facebook sites slamming the CEO, Alan Joyce and one was even called, “Lock out Alan Joyce, not Qantas workers.” Application To PR Case Denial Denial is not relevant in the Qantas case because the company cannot possibly deny that they grounded the fleet and the CEO did not try to deny his involvement in the decision. Evading Responsibility I believe that Qantas used the method of scapegoating to alleviate some of their problems. They claimed that their act was in response to another wrongful act, that being the union workers demanding different conditions on their contracts. As long as the audience thinks that the company was provoked then the image can more easily be restored to its original state. Reducing Offensiveness Qantas used bolstering as a tactic by creating the twitter account and apologizing to individual customers. They showed that they were trying to make things right and that they were sincerely sorry for the inconveniences. Corrective Action Qantas raised to lock down after two days but that wouldn’t make the thousands of passengers that were stuck somewhere feel any better. To help with that they also gave each passenger that was flying during those two days a free ticket to be used any time in the two years after. Mortification The company used free tickets as their biggest apology to the customers ;over 1000 tickets were given away to unsatisfied customers. Alan Joyce, CEO, also gave a formal apology to the media. Studies Cited "How Qantas dealt with the 48-hour fleet grounding crisis and the A380 mid-air engine failure." How Qantas dealt with the 48-hour fleet grounding crisis and the A3.... N.p., 9 Nov Web. 4 Dec "Our Company." Qantas. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec "How the Qantas crisis unfolded." The Sydney Morning Herald. N.p., 29 Oct Web. 5 Dec Smith-Spark, Laura, Hugh Williams, and Elizabeth Joseph. "Qantas grounds fleet over labor dispute." CNN. Cable News Network, 1 Jan Web. 5 Dec Conclusions Public relations professionals should learn how to handle the general public in a crisis situation. They should learn about using different outlets such as social media or speaking in front of people to convey the messages from the company that the public needs to hear. They can learn the do’s and don'ts of what to put on social media by looking at where past crisis management teams have succeeded or failed. Organizations should learn how to handle a crisis if one comes about. If they do end up in a crisis situation they should be able to handle it in a professional manner, trying their best to restore the company image by following the image restoration theory. They need to go ahead and realize that the image of the company may not be completely restored to its current image but there are ways to reduce the damage. Image restoration theory outlines strategies for companies to use in a time of crisis. They can reduce the damage to their image by following the guidelines put before them. A company must re-establish their credibility to build back up their image. The people using the companies product must trust the company name again before they will be using any more of the product or the service. COMM 2563: Principles of Public Relations