Prince Ejercito

COM41

1. Where do you think Belo committed a mistake?

- Belo made a mistake with their tagline #PandemicEffect. They portrayed the

#PandemicEffect as if only the physical appearance have been affected by it and the

consumers are focused on that aspect where in fact all of us are not focused on the physical

appearance we have during the pandemic but rather on how to live each day and protect the

home that we live in. During the pandemic the consumers are not focused on that aspect but

on the aspect of living that they are focus and I think it is very insensitive by the Belo

company to create an advertisement like that. Other consumers have lost loved ones or have

lost their jobs and that is the pandemic effect for them not just the physical appearance.

2. Is creativity and shock value more important than corporate reputation?

- No, corporate reputation is more important than creating and creative and shock value

advertisement. Corporate reputation cannot be built in just a mere span of a day, it is build as the

company progresses. Trust and Reputation is hard thing to be built a company as making people

to trust your company is one of the hardest, creating a reputation of a company will be taking a

long time but you could easily destroy it, just like what Belo did. You could create a creative and

shocking advertisement without sacrificing your corporate reputation.

3. If you were the communication manager for Belo, how would you handle this case?

What could you have done to prevent this from happening?

- I would prevent this kind of insensitive advertisement from happening by simply seeing

what’s around me. I think the Belo team shortsighted what is really the #PandemicEffect

during the season of pandemic. What I will do to prevent that is to communicate with the

key stakeholders during those times, what is the most creative and shocking

advertisement I can do without sacrificing and being insensitive with the feelings of the

consumers. I think the communication manager have handled the crisis very well, they

released a statement regarding the issue and apologized for the insensitive video they

have released. A straight up confession and apologizing is a good way to solve the crisis

that they have experience and hopefully will learn from the mistake they made.