Your reputation, personal or organizational, is ever evolving. One day you are on top of the world and can do no wrong and the next a crisis hits.
In business, it’s usually wise to protect your assets before calamity strikes. And brand image is one of your most valuable assets. Reputation protection looks at the entire search landscape for your brand name, industry, CEO, and your competitors. This offensive approach offers a detailed picture of where you stand compared to others (Sickler, 2022).
Actors cultivate their personal and professional brands in a variety of ways. If we look at Johnny Depp and his recent court battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard you can see how reputations are impacted.
Depp sued Heard for $50 million while she countersued for $100 million. One of his former agents that testified said this, “Christian Carino, another former talent agent of Depp's, to give an impression of Depp's reputation in Hollywood circles. Carino, who once represented both Depp and Heard, testified that he believes Depp's reputation remains intact as "one of the finest actors of his generation" but that Heard's accusations directly resulted in him losing professional opportunities.
"My opinion is that Amber's accusations would have had the most dramatic impact on his off-screen reputation," he told the court, noting that he's "not talking about any one specific accusation." He went on to allege that Depp was not invited to return for Pirates 6 due to Heard's accusations, saying he came to this conclusion after numerous conversations with colleagues and studio execs, including Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer behind the Pirates franchise (Miller, 2022).
Johnny Depp won the court case but his reputation and his personal life was exposed to the world. During this time his team was working to counter negative press while attempting to repair his reputation.
While Johnny Depp’s personal reputation has taken a hit it is no different than a company who is charged with a variety of accusations such as hostile work environment, sexual harassment, poor training, lackluster products, or other things that diminish the current company reputation.
Looking at the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise you can have the best actors and the best script but if the company that owns the franchise is having reputation issues that can turn off movie goers which greatly impacts the overall how successful the movie is.
In 2022 and continuing into 2023 The Walt Disney Company’s reputation continues to plummet for a variety of reasons but many point to the company of being “woke”. The Walt Disney Company fell 28 spots on the Axios Harris Poll 100 this year, according to The Washington Times. The poll ranks the “most visible brands in America” by using a survey with questions about trust, ethics, growth, products/service citizenship, vision, and culture (Owens, 2022).
Between Disney’s stance on Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill and their former Disney CEO, Bob Chapek’s fight with Florida’s elected officials put Disney on everyone’s radar.
Moving forward, Chapek shared that Disney will immediately be “increasing our support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states.”
This is in alignment with his statements during Disney’s 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders just a few days ago where he pledged a $5 million donation to the Human Rights Campaign and other LGBTQ+ organizations. Though, the Human Rights Campaign has since issued a response refusing the money calling for “meaningful action” from the company (Saxton, 2022).
These decisions ultimately led to Florida to dissolves Disney’s self-governance that go into effect in June 1, 2023. The Reedy Creek Improvement District has been in place since 1967 and has served Disney well.
While Reedy Creek really only applies to those in Florida Disney is a global company that continues to provide entertainment that continues to draw controversy.
A reboot of the Disney show "The Proud Family" is receiving backlash over a rap in a recent episode of the cartoon featuring kids debating about slavery and reparations, arguing that America "owes" Black Americans because America "still has not atoned for" its systemic prejudice, racism and White supremacy (Tietz, 2023).
During its Q1 2023 earnings report, Disney confirmed that Disney Plus lost subscribers for the first time in its history. Between October and December 2022, the streaming platform's global user base shrunk by 2.4 million (Power, 2023).
All of these issues are contributing to Disney failing to do what businesses do and that is to make money.
The Walt Disney Co. paid a heavy price for their foray into woke politics as they lost $123 billion of their market value as stocks dropped 44.58% from the beginning to the end of 2022.
The company opened the year at $156.76 per share. After a year of battling Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, pushing woke content in their blockbuster movies, and replacing their controversial CEO with his predecessor, Disney closed the year at $86.88 (Moye, 2023).
An article written by a former employee in 2021 seems like a different Disney than what is portrayed in today’s news. According to Devan Leos, “During my time with Disney, I was able to see the inner workings and truly awe-inspiring levels of serious care put into all the divisions of Disney. The brand does not play games. Disney's team constantly monitors the media, social media, online forums and any source of information regarding their brand (emails, comments, letters.) They figure out what issues people might have before people even have them. Disney's employees (including talent) are thoroughly screened and monitored. Talent is given strict instructions regarding their online presence, as well as other employees.
Disney will weather the storm of the controversies due to its nearly 100 years of entertainment. While entertainment is different now than it was in 1923 Disney cared about all of its customers. When you wade into politics and push agendas you will always lose customers.
Resources:
Leos, D. (2021). 4 Powerful Brand Secrets I Learned Working With Disney. https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/4-powerful-brand-secrets-i-learned-working-with-disney/370275
Miller, M. (2022). Johnny Depp's former agents clash on whether his Hollywood downfall predates Amber Heard. https://ew.com/movies/johnny-depps-former-agents-clash-hollywood-downfall-amber-heard/
Moye, L. (2023). Walt Disney lost $123 billion while pushing woke politics. https://fism.tv/walt-disney-lost-123-billion-while-pushing-woke-politics-in-2022/ 2022
Owens, M. (2022). Disney’s Reputation Seems to Have Taken a Big Hit, According to New Poll. https://allears.net/2022/05/25/disneys-reputation-seems-to-have-taken-a-big-hit-according-to-new-poll/
Power, T. (2023). Disney Plus loses its magic touch as millions cancel their subscriptions. https://www.techradar.com/news/disney-plus-loses-its-magic-touch-as-millions-cancel-their-subscriptions
Saxton, J. (2022). NEWS: Disney CEO Bob Chapek Apologizes for Response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill. https://allears.net/2022/03/11/news-disney-ceo-bob-chapek-apologizes-for-response-to-floridas-dont-say-gay-bill/
Sickler, J. (2022). Reputation Protection: How to Protect Your Reputation Online. https://www.reputationmanagement.com/blog/reputation-protection/
Tietz, K. (2023). Disney slammed for 'anti-White propaganda' in new 'The Proud Family' reboot. https://www.foxnews.com/media/disney-slammed-anti-white-propaganda-proud-family-reboot
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