{"id":7365,"date":"2016-09-15T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=7365"},"modified":"2018-08-09T16:09:24","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T20:09:24","slug":"what-pr-practitioners-can-learn-from-the-lochte-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2016\/09\/15\/what-pr-practitioners-can-learn-from-the-lochte-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"What PR Practitioners Can Learn From the Lochte Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many of us have heard the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a folktale where neighboring villagers come to the defense of a boy who claims he has seen a dangerous wolf that was never really there. When the wolf does show up and he yells, no one is there to come to his rescue because they no longer believe him. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like this folktale, credibility is everything in the public relations world, and what you say can and will either help or hurt your cause. \u00a0During the 2016 Olympics, American swimmer Ryan Lochte came under heavy criticism after filing a false police report claiming to be robbed at a gas station. The attention of the scandal reached all corners of the globe, placing all eyes on the United States. Below are lessons public relations practitioners can learn from this Olympic scandal. <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/588698798\" target=\"_blank\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/588698798?et=jKcF3ahbRx5u755M0udPAQ&amp;viewMoreLink=on&amp;sig=ue3SHmY76CEkQ8uGjMdvfAPx85ndFkm8eckqwBZrDTE=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Always tell the truth.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ryan Lochte did not share the full story and left questionable facts to be investigated. This lead to even more trouble when it was discovered that his claim of being robbed was not true. As public relations professionals, lying or over exaggerating is not an option. This not only diminishes the credibility of the client, but also places the audience at a disarray because they are unsure whether they should believe in the message or your brand. <\/span><\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Be a good storyteller.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The investigation of the incident took a different turn when it was discovered that there were two versions of the story Lochte gave to the police and the media. As public relations practitioners, we need to be sure that the message we relay to media outlets is truthful to avoid confusion and creating an even bigger crisis. <\/span><\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Humility will get you everywhere.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If Lochte had disclosed all of the details of the events that occurred and owned up to his shortcomings, he may not have received as much backlash from the public and his fans. As a result of the false report, Lochte lost sponsorships with Speedo, Ralph Lauren, Airweave and Gentle Hair Removal. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being transparent and forthcoming with all parties involved provides a better depiction of your client. No matter how bad the situation is, be humble and admit when there are shortcomings within an organization.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many things were compromised in this scandal, including respect and admiration of fans, sponsors and the trust of the general public. However, public relations professionals can learn from the mistakes Lochte made.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lauriane Abbey is a senior majoring in strategic communications with a professional writing minor at The Ohio State University. She enjoys chatting on social media and following the news on her Flipboard app. She also loves traveling, learning to cook, going on new adventures with friends and taking walks around campus. Follow her on Twitter <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Lauriane_Abbey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">@Lauriane_Abbey<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many of us have heard the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a folktale where neighboring villagers come to the defense of a boy who claims he has seen a dangerous wolf that was never really there. When the wolf does show up and he yells, no one is there to come to his rescue because they no longer [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2896],"tags":[627,2567,2560,40,2565,2566],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7365"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7367,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7365\/revisions\/7367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}