There is an inspiring lesson marketers can learn from the various episodes of crisis throughout the history of business: negative publicity can actually boost your credibility and thus, corporate image and brand; elegantly admit mistakes and claim full responsibilities for the consequences.
This notion might be contrary to the basic role of PR and marketing – to tweak public perception to spawn a constructive image of how the company is doing.
Still, the virtue of honesty and sincerity is one of the core moral values of our society, and – believe it or not — elegantly admitting our own mistakes actually wins us others sympathy and respect.
In a similar vein, such ploy commands a greater deal of respect than the typical corporate image-building tactics like community development or finding cure for a deadly disease. Companies already enjoying first-rate reputation reinforce their positive,