Assignment 3 - Individual case study

Course code and name: BUSM2301 - Organizational Analysis

Truong Thi Quynh Nga

S3618649

Lecturer: Antoine Goupille

Length: 1846 words

Introduction

#MeToo movement is initiated by social activist Tarana Burke after she heard about the

sexual abuse from a 13 years old girl in 2006. However, it only became more extensive after

the scandal of a Hollywood star in 2017 and has become increasingly popular around the

world to call victims of sexual violence to accuse.

This campaign has become a topic of social interest and quickly supported. This a potential

communication initiative for the company to operate a sustainable campaign to improve the

image in society. Company image is an evaluation that an individual has about an

organization, from which the values set forth from the company image will create a reputation

for that company (Dowling 2001). However, apart from the positive effects, it has brought,

there have been many campaigns that have received negative reactions from the community

making the company image worse. Therefore, this paper will focus on analysing a potential

negative backlash from the public that can against this campaign, then offer some suggestions

to help the campaign success.

Potential negative reactions

From the 1890s, there was a movement called the feminist that began to appear in Western

European countries, respectively like France, Netherlands, England, etc., then spread to the

US and worldwide. The different social issues were targeting in different contexts but mainly

still around gender equality. The #MeToo movement focuses on reclaiming human rights for

women who have been abused, however, in fact, we need to acknowledge that not only

women are sexually abused but also men and LGBT. According to the National Sexual

Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point

in their lives. Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also states
that LGBT people become the victim of sexual abuse at comparative or higher rates than

heterosexuals (cited in Human rights campaign). Based on these data, it can be seen that the

problem is not just about women, but a much bigger problem which is really sensitive to the

community. In my opinion that at such a sensitive time if the excessive branding campaign is

biased towards a certain gender as women will have the potential to receive negative backlash

from society especially is men and the LGBT community.

Firstly, it might increase the gap between the genders, while the whole world, including

feminists, are demanding equal rights. Vietnam Plus (2019) states that Mexican rock star

Armando Vega Gil committed suicide at his home after being accused anonymously through

the anti-sexual abuse movement #MeTooMusicosMexicanos. This campaign has partly

pointed the whole point to the non-female genders, while this can happen to anyone, any

gender. Some people almost react to men vehemently and almost assume that all men want to

hurt them. Therefore, gender gaps will be pushed further away if the campaign is not subtle in

content and then the foreseeable thing is a non-female community component will fight back

this campaign. Greenfield (2018) mentions that #MeToo movement has affected and helped

men modify attitudes very much in the workplace, however, the things were no longer in the

right direction as men tried to avoid female colleagues as much as possible because they

afraid that they will suddenly be accused of working or meeting separately with female

employees and it will ruin their reputation. Johnny C. Taylor JR. (2018) claims that there is a

man said that he would not hire a woman going forward or those who say they would hire a

woman said they would not engage in any activities after business our. As a result of this, the

balance of gender will disappear. In the end, all of that will lead to a bad case that is a part of

men who will stand up for fairness when being scolded by things they did not do, including

the employees in the company will also be wary of this quite a sensitive topic.
In addition, we have to accept the fact that not everyone in society will support this campaign

and not everyone is willing to share their story with this #MeToo movement, especially a part

of people that we have zoned to do the campaign. Livni (2018) mentions a case when a

woman said that she refused to say #MeToo because she does not want to voluntarily give to

others the right to admire her insult, and then that pain is known to everyone so that one day

she will be removed as a victim. People always tend to cover up what they consider to be their

shortcomings, so not everyone is brave enough to face and publicize such offensive issues. In

this case, when the campaign is using their image, that image will repeat many times, then it

might be a trouble with them. Social activities need to be recognized in the best way by the

community, using the victim’s pain to condemn can get mercy and empathy but also some

part of the society can react badly because they think that the company is using it to polish

reputation, based on the pain of others to atone. Furthermore, although based on mistakes in

the past and choosing a non-profit campaign to regain image is a good strategy to show the

community that the board has made corrections and responsibilities to the community.

However, it also has the potential to become a good opportunity for opponents to disrupt and

depose the brand to the maximum. For example, when you are advocating for a campaign to

condemn bad behaviours to society, at that time, all actions and activities of the company

must also condemn those bad behaviours. The campaign will no longer have any meaning

actions and is even against you if those bad actions are happening in the company and it is

somehow exposed to the public. It could also be rumours or tabloid news that someone

intentionally caused to harm the company that will also become a threat to the community

turning its back on the company.

Recommendations

In order to achieve a successful campaign, the team participating in the campaign needs to be

well prepared to deal with all the dangers that may occur at any time and almost have

unforeseeable things. So, in this section, some suggestions will be given to help somehow

deal with the backlash mentioned above.

To begin with, the company should apply the ISO 26000 which is the CSR standard of the

world. Hahn (2013) claims that ISO 26000 enables ”guiding companies on their path to

sustainability as well as any faults and gaps that need to be filled to be identified” (cited in

Mihaela 2016). The ISO 26000 standard provides guidance on: seven basic principles of

social responsibility, social responsibility recognition and engagement of stakeholders, seven

key themes and issues related to social responsibility, ways to integrate socially responsible

behaviour into an organization, in addition to providing definitions and information to help

organizations understand and address social responsibility, the standard emphasizes the

importance of results and improvements in social responsibility performance. By owning the

ISO 26000 certificate, the business will not only prove that it is effectively trading its

products and services, but also proving that it is concerned with the environment and the

sustainability of the environment. Moreover, the reputation of businesses will also be

enhanced, attracting more customers and socially conscious employees who want to maintain

a healthy ecosystem.

In addition, the company should encourage employees to participate in company CSR

projects. This is able to help develop leadership capacity for employees can also help align
employees with the value of the company. The campaign will become more effective and

closer to the community when the image of each member of the company is thoroughly

utilized, it helps create trust in the community when this CSR is derived from the core

competencies of company. By implementing legitimate labour policies, treating employees

fairly and ethically, the company has also shown its responsibility to society. The company's

policies and laws should be issued seriously and really aimed at condemning and preventing

those actions. When the organization stands out to do it most effectively, the surrounding

community will easily accept and support more campaigns. Moreover, the local community

should be aligned with the CSR campaign of the enterprise. Make the campaign from the

smallest but most influential places like the community where the company is based, where it

is considered the place where the company is using resources and earning from, therefore, the

return of benefits to the community there effectively will build a stronger foundation for the

campaign to spread more widely. According to a Nielsen report, in 2016 66% of study

respondents are willing to pay more for sustainable merchandise (cited in Joshua 2016). If

consumers face disagreements with the company's actions, they will always be willing to

stand up and share to express that disagreement. Cone Communications’ research and

services (2015) states that 40 percent of consumers said they would be able to reward a

company for effective community activities, and would also be willing to punish that

company if there were wrong actions.

The truth is, not only celebrities, everyone is scared to announce a secret of themselves. They

have many fears, fear of being criticized, afraid of thinking that they will not be protected.

Those worries are not impossible. Victims of criticism are not surprising. Different opinions

always exist in society, advocate or blame is understandable. Since then, it will make victims

who do not believe they will be protected, they are afraid of persistent litigation, long
troubles. Thus, in order to thoroughly handle and not react backward that the company is

taking the pain of victims to benefit and not caring about them, in the media aspect, the

company should have statements that bring High legalism assumes that it will protect the

spirit and honour of the victims who participated in this campaign.

The other thing is, even though this stage is quite jumpy to speak up or favour a certain

gender. But obviously it will also be a good opportunity for the community to see that all

genders are the same for the company, and there is no discrimination there. It can be seen that

in recent times, the community is very interested in the third gender - people from the LGBT

community. They are making great efforts to be recognized and protected by society as a

normal person and have made many positive changes. On this occasion, the company's

campaign can help create a small push towards the LGBT community to help society realize

that LGBT people themselves are disadvantaged and suffer more pain than others, and

besides, there have been and have been victims of sexual violence cases. This shows that they

also need to be spoken and protected like everyone else and they don't deserve to be treated

badly. If you can take this opportunity, the company's campaign to bring the #MeToo

movement to expand not only the female gender but everyone in the original sense that it

carries in it will make the campaign more complete. and more meaning.
Reference list

Cone Communications & Ebiquity 2015, 'Global CSR Study', Cone Communications’

research and services, viewed 11 May 2019.

Dowling, G 2001, Creating Corporate Reputations: Identity, Image, and Performance,

Oxford University Press, Oxford, NY.

Greenfield, R 2018, 'Powerful Men Have Changed Their Behavior at Work Since #MeToo',

Bloomberg, 5 October.

Human rights campaign organization, n.d, Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ Community,

Human rights campaign organization, viewed 10 May 2019,

<https://www.hrc.org/resources/sexual-assault-and-the-lgbt-community>.

Livni, E 2018, 'There’s a problem at the heart of #MeToo — here’s how to solve it', Quartz,

14 October.

National Sexual Violence Resource Center, n.d, Get Statistics, National Sexual Violence

Resource Center, viewed 10 May 2019, <https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics>.

Joshua, F 2016, '66% of consumers willing to pay more for sustainable goods, Nielsen report

reveals', Ashton Manufacturing, 27 June.

Phuong, T 2019, 'The left side of #Metoo movement in Mexico', Vietnam Plus, 2 April.

USA Today 2018, Video, A human resources professional says #MeToo created workplace

backlash, USA Today.