【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 e message was a response to critics of its wages and benefits for its workers and its impacts on the munities where its stores are located. Some observers (including myself) raised the question of how this message could be effective when the pany was being widely criticised (with extensive media coverage) for reportedly closing a store where employees were trying to anise a union and when the pany was being sued (again with substantial media coverage) for discrimination against women employees. In my view the pany effort at munications and this specific message/theme were not likely to be effective. Sometimes even any munications can be questionable. CITGO found itself in a reputational brouhaha in the US in late 2021 when Venezuela39。s president attacked President Bush at the UN (CITGO39。s parent is a Venezuelan petroleum pany). A major retail gas station operator ended its relationship with CITGO as a supplier, allegedly connected to the widely publicized political attack. Although only a modest proportion of Americans were said to know of the ownership linkage, CITGO decided to undertake a munications campaign, “CITGO sets the record straight”, emphasizing the pany39。s corporate good citizenship and role as a major US employer. Soon thereafter the pany returned to its ongoing imagebuilding campaign. Some experts agreed with the effort。 some thought the response munications should have continued, and some said nonadvertising munications should have been used. However, others argued that the campaign fueled more public awareness of the underlying problem, and should not have been undertaken (New York Times, November 1, 2021). The situation subsequently settled down as Americans looked at gasoline as a product, rather than at its ownership. As I have suggested, forthright corporate action often is the most sensible route. Merck, the thirdlargest US pharmaceutical manufacturer, suffered an attack on its reputation because of its actions regarding Vioxx, a pain medication. It was revealed that several years before the pany withdrew Vioxx (2021), its internal documents raised questions about risks of strokes and heart attacks associated with the drug. Obviously this was a serious situation for the pany39。s reputation especially since the pany was defending thousands of lawsuits over injuries and deaths, claimed by patients or surviving family members to be attributable to the drug. Three years after the withdrawal, having won many but having lost some of the cases, Merck made a $ billion settlement on some 45,000 cases (Boston Globe, November 9, 2021) Merck39。s action was expensive, but allowed the firm to move on without a huge residual financial cloud. Merck39。s behaviour helped address a serious threat. An unusual corporate action in the face of criticism was taken by the major accounting firm KPMG in 2021. Under attack by the US Government for the creation and sale of tax shelters claimed to have cost the Treasury billions of tax dollars, KPMG admitted “unlawful conduct.” What was said to lie behind the move was the pany39。s fear of criminal indictment, which in the case of Arthur Andersen had been a major step leading to its demise (New York Times, 2021). If the anisation truly believes that bad news about it is false, there is an opportunity to correct the misimpression. However, the munications (. corporate statements) must be supported by evidence and have a clear ring of credibility. When Audi was confronted with “sudden unintended acceleration” problems, its initial responses attributed the blame to driver error. This became a matter of considerable public debate, well covered by media. Later, despite considerable internal engineering investigation, Audi was generally considered never able to pinpoint the actual cause of the problem. It took new engineering (. automatic gearshift locks now widely employed in the industry) and the passage of several years of much lower sales for the brand (whose name is on all models) to mount a