Page 110 - Crisis Communication Practical PR Strategies

Fraud 91
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even acknowledging that a statement, guarantee or advertisement
made by the client was misleading.
The public relations crisis management team, on the other hand,
have a duty to explain to management the risks of denying that
someone committed fraud in the organization. If someone in an
organization has actually committed fraud, one should assume that
the facts will eventually come to light. Management should be advised
of the potential harm that may result from denying or covering up the
issue of fraud, in terms of a firm’s overall reputation for integrity.
Denial not only erodes precious public credibility, it delays correc-
tive action and offers the impression that a misleading claim was not
an aberration, but rather part of a pattern of deceit. Ultimately, it is
management that will have to make the call on how much an organiza-
tion is willing to admit. To repair damage from an accusation of fraud,
the PR crisis management team must make sure that their advice is
carefully weighed by management along with the advice of the legal
staff.

Third-party validation

As with other aspects of effective crisis PR management, the use of
respected third parties to validate facts is an important tool in the
arsenal. If a company’s credibility is itself under attack, then the most
effective rebuttal will come from third parties, particularly govern-
ment agencies or respected experts not tied to the company.
A pharmaceutical company, for instance, may have made claims
about a particular prescription drug based on its own testing of the
product and Federal Drug Administration (FDA) trials, yet find itself
on the defensive over a new study (which may or may not be rigorous
or valid). Maybe anecdotal evidence has turned up a higher incidence
of serious side effects or fatalities attributed to the product.
Was the pharmaceutical company guilty of fraud when it attested to
the safety of the product? The answer is no, but to effectively rebut the
claim, it needs to act promptly, not only in providing helpful data from
FDA testing, but also providing supportive articles from prominent
medical journals or by mobilizing respected physicians to speak on the
company’s behalf.
Respected third parties can also vouch for your client’s history over
the long run. If your client has developed a good reputation gained
over many years, third parties can remind them of this fact, which
would put any charge of fraud in perspective. If the public is con-
vinced that a claim was made in good faith by a company recognized as