NIKE Company on Public Relation - Assignment Example

Introduction Public relations refer to two way communications between a company and the public; it is designed to strengthen the relationship between these two parties so as to move a company towards achievement of its goals and values. Some of the major functions linked to public relations include planning, researching, communicating and evaluating one’s outcomes. Nike is a multinational company based in Oregon – US. It is sportwear provider and also deals with equipment supplies. Its product range varies from athletic shoes, to sports apparel to sporting accessories and equipment. It is a fortune 500 company with approximately $ 18.627 billion dollars worth of revenue (by 2008). The company has several stores located worldwide and these stores are called Nike towns. Given the magnanimity of Nike’s operations and its success, one cannot undermine the importance and influences that public relations have had on this company. The essay shall look at how the company has been affected by this phenomenon in greater detail. Press agentry Press agentry entails the use of third parties – usually professionals in public relations – that disseminate information through the press after carefully preparing it. Nike has made use of press agentry in circumstances where it has been the object of discussion if it has had to clear its name off any wrong doing. 1 An example of an experience in which the company used this method occurred last year i.e. 2008. At that time, an Australian based news company aired an undercover story in which Nike manufacturers in Malaysia were found guilty of employing forced labour. At that time, it was found that the concerned parties were living in squalid conditions and that the company had to respond to this expose. Nike used press agents in order to address the problem where it made a press statement that it would correct that action. More is yet to be seen about this corrective action but the press statement was intended on calming the public’s tempers especially those who began thinking of Nike as an oppressive employer. It should be noted that the use of press agents and several letters in response to the numerous criticisms against this company’s conditions has led to a number of legal battles. In the year 2002, a consumer advocate known as Kasky was responsible for a law suit known as the Kasky vs. Nike case. Here the plaintiff claimed that Nike had made false claims in its press releases and that this was false advertising. However, Nike responded to those accusations by claiming that anything classified as public information should be protected by the First Amendment. However, the judge presiding over this case took the plaintiff’s side by claiming that their forms of communications were categorised as commercial speech. Eventually the two parties were able to settle their dispute out of court. What this did for Nike’s publicity was that it tarnished its image as being a protector of its respective consumers. Consequently, its press releases were placed under heavy scrutiny owing to the fact that they were treated as being false. 2 Another way in which Nike has been affected by press agentry is with regard to a campaign known as East Coast demo – which occurred during the year 2005. This was a tour in which the company had been promoting Nike skateboarding through borrowed imagery from Minor Threat – which was a band that thrived during the nineteen eighties. In order to counter some of the negative imagery that had emanated out of this tour, Nike felt it necessary to issue formal apologies to the band, its record company and also to the general public i.e. the band’s fans. Nike carried out these apologies through press agentry and they were able to explain to the public and to the stakeholders involved that they had been wrong. This was backed up by elimination of all the promotional flyers concerning this tutor. In the end, it can be said that press agentry was effective in boosting their company image. Through press agentry, Nike has responded to a number of allegations claiming that the company does not provide safe working environment. Here, its press agents asserted that the company has an effective Code of conduct that can go a long way towards improving their respective image among the public. In other words, the company has tried to publicise is itself as being a reputable company that enforces safe working environments even when the countries under consideration do no respect these laws. However, some media reports have shown that this Code of conduct may not necessarily be enforceable in all the company’s factories. For instance, Ernst and Young revealed a report in which a factory in Vietnam does not abide by these policies. It can therefore be said that PR efforts were not very effective. This was an effort to cover up a tarnished mage that had been shaken up after some shocking statistics by the latter consultancy firm. The following are some of the pieces of information that were revealed; Minimal protective equipment in Vietnam’s factories Respiratory disease among some workers 4 exits for two thousand employees Excess toluene levels by six times or more For effective public relations, Nike should have dealt with each and every one of these claims. However, they merely covered it all up with a blanket statement about their code of conduct. Therefore, press agentry countered instead of promoted their goals and objectives. According to these reports, the company is in bridge of its code of conduct and should therefore have carried out publicity campaigns to show how it has changed all the latter circumstances. 3 Public information Public information entails identification of a target audience and then delivery of a certain message that had been generated specifically for that audience. Nike uses this technique severally in its Public relations endeavours. However, their target audiences are much larger than what some companies normally work with as they may involve an entire nation or even the world in general. While the company may specifically target its public information towards sportsmen and women, there are still several people who wear sports apparel for casual purposes. This implies that their messages are relevant to a diverse group of people. There are also a series of stakeholders that may be involved in Nike’s public information efforts. For instance, in certain cases, the company may be targeting the general public but the real stakeholders may be the company’s shareholders and their public information agents. However, it should be noted that in certain circumstances, public information can work against a certain company thus leading to negative perceptions when the public information is not from the concerned firm. After examination of how Nike usually carries out its public information efforts, it is essential to look into some of the direct examples in which this company has used public information, or been affected by it. 4 Nike has made use of public information in order to let people know about their environmental record. In fact this method of public relations has worked very effectively for Nike because it has contributed towards its ranking; it is among the top three climate friendly companies. Here, the latter organisation has made the public aware of some of its environmentally friendly programs and products. For instance, the Nike Talk Trash product was publicised in 2008 through the public information domain. Here, the company informed the public that this product was reducing the amount of resources consumed during production by using waste leather pieces found within their factory floors to make this shoe. Also, this shoe’s sole was made up of rubber that had been collected in a rubber recycling scheme. Through such a public relations campaign, the company was able to inform the public about a product that was one of its kind and this boosted its perceptions among various stakeholders. In line with the latter endeavour is another program known as Nike re-use a shoe scheme. This program began as early as 1990 and has continued to date. Information about this program as made available to the public in order to promote its environmental conservation efforts. Here, the company explained that it usually obtains recycled shoes in which it collects material that may be used for running tracks, playgrounds and making basketball courts. Through such a campaign, the public has become aware of some of the efforts that Nike is carrying out in terms of its movements. 5 One of the major concerns facing Nike’s image entails its alleged human rights abuses. There have been a number of companies, lobby groups and human rights activists who have taken advantage of public information to tarnish Nike’s image. This implies that public information has had a lot of negative consequences to the latter company but it has used the same mode to try and redeem itself. Firstly, Nike had been accused of paying its workers wages that fell below the minimum wage. It should be noted that Nike contracts several countries around the globe to carry out its production. Most of these countries are located in Asia and they include Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Pakistan and Mexico. In 1996, Nike was the target of these low wage concerns. In order to respond to those allegations, the company made use of public information where it created messages and then disseminated to the public concerning its labour practices. Another way in which public information has affected the Nike company negatively is though a series of presentations that have exposed the firm in a harmful light. In 2001, the media firm went to Cambodia and carried out a long expose of how Nike hired under age workers. It focused on six girls who revealed that they had exceeded the maximum allowed time for working every day i.e. they worked for sixteen hours. Besides that, they reported to work on a daily basis i.e. no weekend breaks. Aside from this documentary, a number of anti globalisation associations have targeted Nike’s labour practices claiming that they represent what is wrong with multinationals. All these campaigns have come in the form of public information and they have affected Nike’s public relations endeavours very negatively. Nike Inc. has tried to paint a positive image for itself by asserting that the company is highly interested in promoting some of their respective entities rather than being confrontational about the issue. 6 Two way asymmetric Two way asymmetric communications entail the process of promoting mutual understanding between the public and an organisation in order to negotiate or deal with any form of conflict. Nike has embraced this form of public relations in a number of its activities. Firstly, the company has embraced scientific persuasion where it uses means and routes that can be validated scientifically to capture its audience. In other words, this kind of communication is known as social science communication. Aside from that, Nike usually does this kind of PR in order achieve a short term change in people’s attitudes towards the company. Here, there will be feedback from the specific audiences chosen so as to ascertain that the intended messages have been received by said audiences. 7 The public relations industry has changed tremendously over the past few years with most companies focusing their efforts around their image. In other words, such companies may not intend to change any of their internal structures but may only be interested in changing how the public views them. Nike is one such company; it has attempted to use two way asymmetric communications severally. In fact, it can be said that this form of PR is what dominates their PR agenda. An example of how this occurred is when Nike had been accused of perpetuating violence after making an advertisement during the 2000. Essentially, the advertisement borrowed its main concept from the Texas Chain saw massacre movie. In the ad, a renowned athlete – Hamilton is running for her life after realising that the chain saw killer is after her. Eventually, this athlete outruns the killer and the ad eventually ends with a line stating that ‘sports makes one live longer.’ A number of consumer activists claim that the advertisement perpetuates violence against women and that young children may have a difficult time watching it as the images are ‘horrific’. In order to clear the air about the interpretations that came from this movie, Nike Inc. felt it necessary to use asymmetric communication. The company, through its spokespersons, told the public that the advertisements was not attempting to degrade women as the main idea was to create a joke out of the typical horror film depiction. The spokespersons also asserted that the advertisement was not derogatory to some because at the end of it, the female athlete triumphs over the killer. Consequently, it can be said that it was even empowering them. Through these pieces of communication, Nike Inc was able to achieve what any two way asymmetric public relations effort is supposed to achieve i.e. a change in attitude or public perception about a certain company without necessarily changing any company policies. Two way symmetric Two way symmetric communications involve less persuasion (as is the case with two way asymmetric) and more of mutual understanding. In other words, both the public and the organisation try to negotiate and compromise towards a middle ground in their communication. This may sometimes entail the process of adjusting one’s organisational structures in order to meet the requirements of the public. To some extent, Nike has used such an approach but this takes less precedence compared to its one way communication efforts. 8 One way in which Nike has embraced two way symmetric communications is in terms of its working conditions. Following harsh criticisms from a series of human rights stakeholders, Nike decided to change its working conditions in some of the poor countries that had been carrying out its production. Here, practices such as child labour were substantially reduced by the company as it felt that there was a need to look into some of the issues that had been articulated by the public about this company’s human resource policy. The following countries were largely affected by this company’s actions; Pakistan Cambodia The latter countries have been sourced by Nike in order to carry out the manufacture of soccer balls. However, their governments are very relaxed when it comes to reinforcing child labour laws. This means that the latter company had to carry out a personal initiative in which it ensured that the manufactures were abiding by those rules. It can therefore be said that Nike met the concerns of the public while at the same time meet its own needs of having a clear name in these respective parameters. Nike Incorporated has carried out numerous sponsorship campaigns over the past two decades. All these sponsorship programs have reached the public domain through the public information strategy. Examples of when this strategy was utilised was when the latter company signed in the following athletes, sports teams and groups Michel Jordan Carl Lewis Pete Sampras The Indian cricket team Manchester United Arsenal Serena Williams Tiger Woods Maria Sharapova Nike’s sponsorships have gone a long way towards boosting their publicity as being a helpful member in the community. At the same time, all the games and sports that they have chosen to support have grown tremendously too. Some of the athletes would not have made it in those arenas of what they had not obtained sponsorship from those groups. Besides that, supporting sports within the community serves as a means of promoting its overall well being since sports exerts positive influences to concerned parties. Through these publicity campaigns in Nike’s sponsorship, there was a two way gain for both the public and Nike. 9 Nike has also carried out publicity campaigns that are intended on showing that this company is highly interested in promoting the conditions prevalent within those countries. At the same time, the company has been able to save up on labour costs by employing individuals from third world or developing nations. Through two way symmetric communications, Nike Inc. has shown how it has provided work opportunities to many deprived families in countries such as Indonesia. It asserted that there are a large number of people who frequently line up their factories trying to look for employment. In this regard, opportunities offered by Nike were much more lucrative than the ones available to these respective individuals who had to contend with a series of subsistence agricultural jobs. Besides this Nike was able to give information or statistics about some of the changes that it has created in the job market worldwide. Here, the company asserted that it has offered jobs to about five hundred thousand employees who were in need of high labour jobs. This implies that the economies of such countries have grown by leaps and bounds. In other words, Nike has shown itself as a company that is highly interested in human development. On the other hand, a number of developing countries that are in need of foreign investment have benefitted tremendously from this initiative. Analysis and conclusion on Nike’s effectiveness at Public relations The major purpose behind carrying out public relations is in order to boost or protect a brand. 10 If a company cannot manage to effectively communicate such a message or create a positive image of its brand, then it can be said that their PR efforts have failed. Nike prides itself in its ‘Just do it campaign’, however, its brand still suffers from an association with sweatshop labour. A case in point occurred when a certain student wanted to add the word sweatshop to his custom made Nike sneakers. This customer’s actions indicated that in his mind and probably in the minds of many other consumers, Nike offers poor working conditions. Nike does not have a very bad HR policy in their factories, however, because its publicity campaigns and PR efforts have not been very effective at showing the opposite, then its brand is suffering. Nike should try to employ transparency in showing how they offer clean, effective and fair working conditions. This is the only way in which it can restore its tarnished reputation. While the brand is considered a super brand, the company is yet to achieve its maximum potential unless it does the above. Public relations do not build any brand; instead, they protect or defend it – an aspect that Nike needs to embrace very urgently. References Phil, Hall. 2007. The New Public Relations. NY: Larstan Publishing McNamara, Jim. 2005. Mc Namara’s PR Handbook. Melbourne: Archipelago Publishers Seitel, Fraser. 2006. The practice of public relations. NJ: Cliffs publishers Tymson, Candy & Lazar, Peter. 2006. Public relations manual: Sydney: Tymson Communications Center, Allen. & Patrick, Jackson. 1995. Public relations practices. NJ: prentice Hall Cameron, George., Agee, William. & Ault, Philip. 2002. Public relations tactics and strategies. 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