Disney and Marvel vow boycott if Georgia enacts ‘religious
freedom’ bill: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/20419.aspx
The Walt
Disney Company recently took a preemptive measure to protect its reputation as
an inclusive company. A spokesperson for the company issued a statement saying
that, if the state of Georgia passed a bill that would allow discrimination
against the LGBT community, Disney subsidiary Marvel would pull its movie production
from the state.
The statement said: “Disney and
Marvel are inclusive companies, and although we have had great experiences
filming in Georgia, we will plan to take our business elsewhere should any
legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law” (Winchel,
2016, para. 9). The bill, in a nutshell, would allow organizations to refuse
services and employment to individuals whose religious views or life practices
do not match what the organization believes or practices (Winchel, 2016, para.
4). This bill has been called discriminatory and anti-LGBT.
While the bill has not been signed
into law as of March 24, 2016, Disney and other media companies have already
stated that they will discontinue filming in the state if discriminatory
actions are made law. This statement is a preemptive measure to show that
Disney supports inclusive practices, and will not tolerate discrimination. Though
Coombs (2007) states that the most important aspect of handling a crisis is
stakeholder protection, another important aspect is reputational protection (p.
165). In a time of crisis, an organization needs to work to protect itself. If
the aforementioned bill gets signed into law, it could cause a crisis situation
within the state of Georgia. By making the statement it did, Disney removed
itself from a potential crisis by stating that it will remove its filming from
the state, thus cutting business ties with the state.
Coombs (2007) stated that “the
words used and action taken by management affect how people perceive the
organization and/or the crisis” (p. 171). Disney built up its reputational
capital by positioning itself as an inclusive company that will not support
discriminatory practices. In the case that Georgia does sign this
discriminatory bill into law, Disney and the other brands who have stated that
they will pull business from the state have protected themselves from the
effects of this potential crisis.
As a global organization, Disney is
often in the spotlight, so by taking this preemptive measure to distance itself
from potential crisis, the company is able to build reputational capital by
proving its dedication to inclusive practices, and protect itself from any
reputational damage that could potentially occur from the situation.
References
Coombs, W.T. (2007). Protecting organization reputations
during a crisis: The development and application
of situational crisis communication theory. Corporate
Reputation Review, 10 (3),
163-176.
Winchel, B. (2016). Disney
and Marvel vow boycott if Georgia enacts ‘religious freedom’ bill. Retrieved from http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/20419.aspx
