Theranos Companies Implemented the Wrong Way of Public Relations Campaign
Most of the PR problem comes due to the company itself. First, the issue on how they manage their own company either it has good maintenance or bad maintenance. Second, the problem of the transparency between the company and the PR. One of the examples of this issue is Theranos company which has experienced on PR problem, where their firm has been manipulating both investors and the public. According to Valerie Chan, the CEO and President of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh Balwani were convicted of fraud due to them lying to their investors about the system of blood testing that is called the revolution of the diagnostic industry. In fact, their product was far from able to test patients’ on their disease. This is the example of an issue that reflects the PR problem in regards to transparency.
What I have learned from the issue of Theranos is that to prevent the PR problem, we have to do some research to look for the truth about the problem. The research can be done by reading some articles, doing some surveys, and interviewing some of the employees. It is supported by the argument from the article which said that the PR division needs to be an expert on fact-checking, in which they must collaborate with clients in order to look for the truth about the product and services that the company is providing and create the strategy of storytelling.
In my opinion, false news for most of the company has a huge impact in order to gain consumers and make consumers more curious or interested about their product but this is a bad idea if the company can’t prove their value to their customers. For example, Theranos company did a fake publication about their product that is called a revolution of the diagnostic industry. They claimed that the blood testing could test 240 diseases but in fact when people tried the product it does not match the description from the company. Another example, Uber company claimed that drivers will earn a specific amount of money to get the drivers to register while in fact, the drivers' earnings are less than Uber claimed to result in the company paying $20 million settlement money. These two examples highlight the fact that false news would be beneficial in a short term to gain more people but in the long run, it would be dangerous as it would damage both the company image and profit if they are sued by the law.
In order to recover the company, they should improve their company’s values and persuade the customer about their product that it is a good quality through honest publication. Moreover, as PR in the industry, they have to avoid helping companies to lie about the products or services. It also highlights the importance of information finding and deep research to avoid falling into the false publication trap.
References list :
Carson, B 2017, Uber to pay $20 million to FTC to settle claims that it exaggerated how much drivers would make, media release, 19 January, Business Insider Singapore, retrieved 31 October 2019 https://www.businessinsider.sg/uber-to-pay-20-million-to-ftc-over-driver-earning-claims-2017-1/?r=US&IR=T
Chan, V 2018, What the demise of Theranos tells us about PR vs. Hype, article, 20 March, retrieved 31 October 2019, https://www.plat4orm.com/blog/what-the-demise-of-theranos-tell-us-about-pr-vs-hype