This post is the first of our new monthly roundup series, where once a month, we’ll identify hot topics that PR pros and communicators should be aware of, along with our own takes on them. We hope you find this beneficial. Feel free to add your comments!
Boeing: Brand crises abound in January, and perhaps no one knows this better than the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing. On Friday, January 5, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 lost a fuselage‘ plug door‘ mid-flight, causing the cabin to depressurize and loose items to blow out with the door. Fortunately, no passengers were seriously injured.
However, within a few days, more information (and concerns) came to light when the National Transportation Safety Board told the New York Times that “the plane was not being used in long flights over water because a pressurization warning light had gone off during three recent flights.”
As if that wasn’t enough, on January 13, a Boeing 737-800 in Japan was forced to turn around after the flight crew discovered a crack in the cockpit window mid-flight. In another incident, an Atlas Air Boeing 747 cargo plane caught fire moments into its flight from Miami International Airport on January 18. And on January 20, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 plane lost a nose wheel as it was taxiing for take-off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
For its part, Boeing immediately accepted responsibility and created a plan to monitor the building of its planes. Top management has been accessible and available to the media, and Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun met with US senators last week to answer questions.
While Boeing promises more quality checks, Rory Kennedy, the director of the documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, told NPR, “The additional scrutiny — whether self-imposed or from the FAA — may not be enough to restore public faith in Boeing and the troubled 737 Max, which is now linked to the worst aviation disasters in recent history.”
Purina: In other news, Purina is dealing with a social media crisis as pet food safety is questioned by pet owners’ Facebook groups and then amplified on TikTok. Purina issued a statement after its investigation found no issues.
As PR Daily’s Allison Carter reported, “Purina’s statement was clear, expressing empathy for pet owners and their fears while not mincing words: It wasn’t them. The brand explained precisely how its teams had gone about investigating the incident, including looking for patterns in the data, and made it clear they were ready to act if they did find an issue.”
🔥 Our take: Top-notch communications and PR professionals know that now is always the best time to prepare for a crisis — before it happens.
When it happens, you’re in crisis mode, and media monitoring becomes crucial. You need to know who’s saying what to be able to respond appropriately.
🔑 Resource: Remember the five key components of re-building trust after a crisis: truth and transparency, timely responsiveness, getting the messaging right, imparting empathy and compassion, and maintaining consistency and continuity.
Ethics and AI
Generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI), specifically AI-generated content, is having an ethical (and legal) moment. A moment that will likely stretch into years.
Dr. Cayce Myers, JD, APR, the legal research editor for The Institute for PR (IPR) and director of graduate studies at the Virginia Tech School of Communication, penned a 
piece about whether to disclose the use of AI or not. He offers arguments both for disclosure and against, whether laws will (eventually) require disclosure, and what PR practitioners should do.
When in doubt, the consensus seems to be that you should disclose its use. “PR practitioners are well positioned to comply with these types of disclosures given their expertise in digital communication and the ethical awareness the field has for transparency and trust,” wrote Dr. Myers.
For the PR industry, like journalism, disclosure is an issue of transparency and authenticity, which are the building blocks for trust.
Two articles by Maggie Harrison at Futurism demonstrate the point:
- Sports Illustrated Publisher Laying Off Staff After AI Scandal
- CNET’s Publisher Having Trouble Selling It Due to AI Scandal
🔥 Our take: We’re all for using AI and machine learning to speed up tasks like our AI-assisted press release and media pitch writing tool and AI-facilitated monitoring and measurement tools (combined with our human teams). Burrelles has a long history of credibility and trust, and we notify clients when we implement AI-powered tools into our platform.
When I am writing or editing others’ work, I personally use Grammarly Premium. I don’t always heed its advice, but I can’t imagine doing without it!
Our blog posts are human-written, and if we use any sort of AI-assisted writing tool, we will disclose it.
🔑 Resource: Chris Penn of Trust Insights published a great video on the importance of AI disclosure and copyright assertion. He gives three basic reasons to do so: It’s going to be legally required soon. It’s ethically the right thing to do. And it reiterates your copyright over the non-AI generated content you publish.
For more information on PR ethics and AI, check out Promise & Pitfalls: The Ethical Use of AI for Public Relations Practitioners. The paper offers guidance from PRSA’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS). It follows PRSA’s Code of Ethics, providing best practices for dealing with potential ethical questions that may arise from using AI tools.