The Jargon Group: How to Handle Negative PR Effectively

There’s an old say­ing that ‘all pub­lic­i­ty is good pub­lic­i­ty’. And, while some brands lean into this idea, delib­er­ate­ly court­ing con­tro­ver­sy to spark atten­tion, for most busi­ness­es and com­mu­ni­ca­tions pro­fes­sion­als, this approach is deeply flawed.

Neg­a­tive PR and neg­a­tive pub­lic­i­ty can be dam­ag­ing, erod­ing trust, dam­ag­ing rep­u­ta­tion and even leav­ing long-last­ing con­se­quences both in search results and on social media. In today’s hyper­con­nect­ed dig­i­tal world, where sto­ries can spread rapid­ly, a sin­gle mis­step or flip­pant quote can quick­ly esca­late.

That neg­a­tive pub­lic­i­ty can quick­ly spi­ral into a full-blown PR cri­sis if left unchecked. How a com­pa­ny responds often deter­mines whether its brand emerges stronger or suf­fers last­ing harm.

Under­stand­ing Neg­a­tive PR and Neg­a­tive Pub­lic­i­ty

Before div­ing into solu­tions, it’s impor­tant to recog­nise what con­sti­tutes neg­a­tive
PR. It can take many forms, includ­ing:

• Poor cus­tomer ser­vice going viral
• Con­tro­ver­sial lead­er­ship state­ments
• Mis­judged adver­tis­ing cam­paigns
• Eth­i­cal scan­dals or oper­a­tional fail­ures
  

Any of these sit­u­a­tions can gen­er­ate neg­a­tive pub­lic­i­ty, and the sever­i­ty of the rep­u­ta­tion­al impact depends on how quick­ly and effec­tive­ly it’s addressed and how authen­ti­cal­ly it’s dealt with or per­ceived to have been dealt with.

Assess the Sit­u­a­tion Before Respond­ing

It’s impor­tant to note that not all neg­a­tive PR demands the same lev­el of response. A small, iso­lat­ed com­plaint can fade quick­ly, where­as a larg­er inci­dent could dom­i­nate head­lines and social feeds for weeks.

For minor issues, a sim­ple clar­i­fi­ca­tion or cor­rec­tive action may be enough to resolve the sit­u­a­tion, but for major issues, you’ll like­ly need a com­pre­hen­sive cri­sis man­age­ment plan to address issues and course-cor­rect the nar­ra­tive for your brand.

In either case, one of the most dam­ag­ing mis­takes busi­ness­es make is to ignore neg­a­tive pub­lic­i­ty in the hope that it fades away. Silence often fuels spec­u­la­tion and gives crit­ics the oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­trol the sto­ry, where­as respond­ing quick­ly, with empa­thy and clar­i­ty, helps you take back nar­ra­tive con­trol.

Take Respon­si­bil­i­ty and Offer Solu­tions

When fac­ing neg­a­tive PR, account­abil­i­ty is key. Audi­ences today demand trans­paren­cy, and attempts to down­play or deflect respon­si­bil­i­ty can often wors­en neg­a­tive pub­lic­i­ty.

Know­ing what to do when the worst hap­pens is imper­a­tive to nav­i­gate your brand through chop­py PR waters. Here are some things you should do quick­ly:

•  Issue a sin­cere and time­ly apol­o­gy
•  Pro­vide clear expla­na­tions or con­text (with­out sound­ing defen­sive)
•  Demon­strate will­ing­ness to change and improve

Tak­ing own­er­ship not only dif­fus­es ten­sion but also sig­nals a brand’s com­mit­ment to rebuild­ing trust. Done right, this can trans­form neg­a­tive PR into a pow­er­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to strength­en brand cred­i­bil­i­ty.

Learn and Adapt After Neg­a­tive Pub­lic­i­ty

Although neg­a­tive pub­lic­i­ty can feel like a dis­as­ter, it rarely defines a brand for­ev­er; what sep­a­rates resilient com­pa­nies from those that fal­ter is how they learn from the expe­ri­ence.

Suc­cess­ful brands use neg­a­tive PR as a turn­ing point to reeval­u­ate com­pa­ny val­ues and com­mu­ni­ca­tion strate­gies, to refine mes­sag­ing to bet­ter res­onate with audi­ences and strength­en inter­nal process­es to pre­vent sim­i­lar crises.

Rather than eras­ing mis­takes, acknowl­edg­ing them demon­strates authen­tic­i­ty, a key ele­ment of a strong brand, and also a qual­i­ty that tends to res­onate strong­ly with con­sumers.

Turn­ing Neg­a­tive PR Into a Pos­i­tive Out­come

Every brand, no mat­ter how care­ful­ly it con­trols its com­mu­ni­ca­tions, will face neg­a­tive pub­lic­i­ty at some point. The dif­fer­ence between long-term dam­age and recov­ery lies in the speed and qual­i­ty of the response.

Han­dled with hon­esty, empa­thy, and trans­paren­cy, neg­a­tive PR doesn’t have to be the end of a brand’s rep­u­ta­tion. In fact, it can be the oppo­site. Neg­a­tive pub­lic­i­ty can spark growth, renew­al and even engen­der stronger pub­lic trust.

If you’d like to learn more about deal­ing with bad press and turn­ing that neg­a­tiv­i­ty into an oppor­tu­ni­ty, con­tact our award-win­ning team on hello@thejargongroup.com