Crisis Management: Repairing Lindsay Lohan’s Image
Karina Andujar
Com 100: Intro to Communication Studies
December 9, 2013
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Abstract:
Many scholars have written works on how a celebrity’s persona can be repaired after a
crisis, and the goal of this paper is to analyze those techniques, focus on Lindsay Lohan’s
five year long public crisis and the methods her PR team has been using to attempt to
restore her image. Throughout the main part of her breakdown her representatives made
several weak attempts at helping the public’s perception of her, but not much helped. It
was not until recently when she obtained a new publicist that there seemed to be much
more order and skill going to her image.
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Lindsay Lohan started off as one of the original Disney darlings, but as she grew
up in the public eye the fame and money started to push her in a negative direction. Since
2007, Lindsay Lohan has been publicly zooming down the slippery slope of young
female stardom. At first it seemed as though Miss Lohan just had a propensity for some
out-of-hand partying as many young people do, but as she got older everything seemed to
get a little chaotic in her world.
The first time Lindsay Lohan had a brush with the law was in 2007 when she was
apprehended by authorities for a misdemeanor drunken driving charge and was then sent
to a rehab facility for 45 days (Duke 2012). Initially this incident may have seemed like a
simple mistake and the starlet would be able to quickly bounce back; however, that is not
what happened at all. Just two weeks after she left a California drug treatment center she
was arrested for attempting to hit a woman with her car in her neighborhood. She was
charged with drunken driving, cocaine possession, and driving with a suspended license
(Duke 2012, under “Lindsay Lohan’s troubled timeline).
The four years following her arrest were a train wreck for Lindsay. She was
constantly missing hearings and alcohol counseling, breaking probation, late to set for
filming, and showing little to no remorse for her actions. Due to her behavior, she has
obtained a very undesirable reputation within the film industry and among the general
public, and many people refused to work with and for her. Lohan’s PR team had a very
difficult time keeping her career and image on track. During this time attempts at
repairing her image were constantly being made, especially by her long time publicist,
Steve Honig, who would release what seemed like half-hearted statements throughout her
time of personal derailment that really did not quell the public’s distrust of her.
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Eventually it seemed as though she did not care what was happening to her public
persona.
In 2012 it looked like Lindsay dropped off the face of the Earth. She even
cancelled a TV interview with Barbra Walters in what may have been an attempt to
remain at a low profile. Recently there seems to have been a turnaround in her life—one
that may have something to do with her acquiring a new publicist after her most recent
one quit. This year she has once again gained the public’s attention with several very
mature TV appearances that did not involve her walking to or being seen in a courthouse,
and she is even working on a docu-series for Oprah Winfrey’s network (OWN) that
follows her progress after her most recent stint in rehab. Lindsay Lohan may have been
able to repair her personal life by herself, but if it was not for her PR team she might still
be struggling to even appear in Lifetime movies. Lindsay’s trouble initially started off as
simple young star misbehavior, but as her uncontrollable antics continued, the general
decline in her public image became less of a controversy and more of a crisis for the
celebrity. Her PR team had made repeated attempts to straighten out society’s view of
her, but it was not until recently when they seem to have gotten the formula right to
manage her various image crises. The goal of this paper is to analyze Lindsay Lohan’s
public meltdown from 2007 to 2012 and how her PR team handled it.
Dr. W. Timothy Coombs of the University of Central Florida defines crisis in his
book Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding as an
unstable occurrence that “threatens important expectations of shareholders and can
seriously impact an organization’s performance and generate negative outcomes”
(Coombs 2012, 11). With that definition in mind it seems as though Lindsay Lohan’s
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public life has been one continuous crisis for the past five or so years. In all honesty,
Lindsay Lohan as a celebrity can be categorized as an organization. She is a part of a
team of people that are attempting to achieve specific goals on her behalf, and when those
goals are threatened by certain changes the matter becomes a crisis and it is up to certain
people in her team to manage that crisis.
When Lindsay first started appearing in tabloids as a Hollywood party girl it may
have slightly put a dent her image, but mostly just among people who still saw her as a
real life Disney princess. In that instance, her image may have been controversial, but
nothing that would warrant serious concern among her PR team. After all, this kind of
press showed that she was growing up and might even allow her to be cast in more adult
roles. However, as the partying continued more chaos began to surround her and that
caused her team to go into damage-control mode.
Only a few people haven’t heard of the dramatic disorder that has consumed
Lindsay Lohan’s life, and very few people are willing to see her as anything but a
troubled starlet. This perception may have to do entirely with a complete failure on her
PR team’s part to change these ideas during the most out of control time in her life. Dr.
Coombs explains the three stages to crisis management in his book, and the first of those
stages is the “precrisis” phase. During that phase it is the job of an organization’s
representatives to identify specific threats, attempt to thwart them, and if they persist they
must prepare for what is to come (Coombs 2012). This whole phase is highly
preventative. However, Ms. Lohan’s PR reps seemed to merely react to public inquires
instead of prevent them.
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Time and again Lindsay would find herself in an image-damaging situation and
the media would call for answers, but the only thing her team would do is deflect and
move on. They appeared to have no interest in repairing her image as a professional and
talented actress. All that happened was avoidance. In one of many negative situations
Lindsay Lohan found herself in, she had apparently stolen a necklace from someone’s
house she was visiting in Malibu. The person she had stolen from attempted to press
charges, but they were later dropped. In a statement regarding the incident, Lohan’s
publicist Steve Honig said “Lindsay is glad this matter has been cleared up so she can
focus on her upcoming projects” (Duke 2012). Obviously Lindsay would be glad the
situation is over, but the media does not care about that. They want a sincere reply to the
matter. However, a few years ago there was an instance when Lindsay was accused of
getting into a fight with a woman at a bar, but it later turned out to be inaccurate
reporting. She still needed to have a statement released in her defense and Mr. Honig
said, that she “was absolutely not involved in any sort of altercation whatsoever,” and this
situation was an example of “another case of someone looking for money and 15 minutes
of fame.” That is clearly just an excuse to easily dismiss the situation and not take care of
it and it shows no one taking responsibility for what had happened.
Towards the end of 2012 Lindsay Lohan’s publicist, Steve Honig, resigned from
his position in what seemed like an action of utter desperation and surrender. For quite a
while it seemed as though she would have a very difficult time finding a new one until
Tej Bahtia Herring, who is the VP of Rogers and Cowan, stepped up to fill the spot
(Marcus 2012). Since Herring has joined Lohan’s team it seems like there is much more
of a structure to their plan of reconstructing her image.
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From about November of 2012 to July of this year not much was heard from
Lindsay (other than occasional off the wall twitter ramblings) or her PR team. She did,
however, spend 90 days in a rehab facility in Malibu after she was ordered to do so by the
court earlier this year. Right after Lindsay was released, it seemed like as good a time as
any for her to jump right back into the spotlight, but this time on the terms of her PR reps.
She did an appearance on Chelsea Handler’s E! talk show Chelsea Lately as a guest host
while Chelsea was out of town. On the show she appeared very calm and ready to talk
about celebrity gossip.
When she was hosting she did an opening monologue poking fun at other public
figures including Kanye West and said, “How come when Kanye acts like an idiot, he
gets a gold record? But when I act like an idiot, I get a police record?” Those kinds of
jokes were the ones that made people slowly warm up to her and even accept that she was
on their TV screens. Throughout most of the 30 minute episode she was not shy about
making jokes at her own expense, but also quick to deflect any further pressing on past
matters by the show’s other guest comedians. Many viewed the episode as a huge success
for the actress because for the first time in a while she did not appear to be a mess and
seemed to be in control of the situation. It can most likely be assumed that the success of
this appearance would not have happened if it were not for the coaching of her new
publicist and other team members.
A few short weeks after the Chelsea Lately episode aired Lindsay did an
interview with Oprah Winfrey for her Next Chapter series that chronicles the lives of
high-profile celebrities who have gone through troubling experiences and are attempting
to overcome them. She appeared on camera looking very put together and refined with a
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tight high ponytail and a modest orange dress that gave the appearance of maturity. At the
beginning of the interview Oprah asked Lindsay what was available to be discussed
during their conversation and right of the bat Ms. Lohan made it clear that she was
willing to talk about everything in an honest fashion and to clear the air about
misconceptions about her life, and that is exactly what she did.
Oprah started off by asking about Lindsay’s most recent trip to rehab, which she
was just released from, and why it affected her so positively compared to the five other
times that had done nothing for her. In Lindsay’s response she said that one of the main
reasons why she continued to abuse various substances, such as alcohol, cocaine,
Adderall, and Ambien after various stints in rehab was because she never felt like being
in clinic was in her hands; it always seemed like a punishment. Because she expressed
these intimate ideas, viewers were able to empathize with her in a way they hadn’t in
many years.
After Oprah and Lindsay discussed her rehab stays Oprah asked how she felt
when she was sentenced to prison for 90 days, and Lindsay confessed that in a way she
felt relieved because she thought prison would give her peace of mind outside of the
chaos that she claimed to be so addicted to. Once she was out of prison (after only two
weeks) she began to realize that she is a troubled person and everyone else is right for
thinking so too. In a way, by confessing to that on national television it was a sort of
apology to the public because she finally acknowledged her bad behavior. Also,
throughout the interview she repeatedly took responsibility for actions and showed quite
a bit of remorse and gratitude towards all of those who had given her a chance.
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Towards the end of the conversation Oprah also mentioned how she was excited
to work on Lindsay’s new docu-series for her network that would follow Lindsay’s path
to recovery. This is an excellent way for Lindsay to really show the public that she has
grown and that she is willing to repair whatever little positive image society has of her.
Also, the fact that this is a docu-series rather than a reality show might allow people to
take it more seriously because it will not have the usual staged quality that typically
comes out of Hollywood.
Behaving in an ethical manner is vital in any situation, and celebrities and their
organizations must adhere to a general code of ethics as well—especially their PR teams.
Luckily the PRSA has come up with a code of ethics that make it significantly easier for
communication professionals to follow. The main component that PRSA wishes its
members to adhere to in all circumstances that require public relations is honesty. Using
honesty to their best interest is how they can gain the trust of the public and their clients.
The four cases that were discussed about Lindsay Lohan and the attempts made to repair
her image after several years of crisis all followed the PRSA’s code of ethics. There was
only one situation that could possibly be called into question.
Even though all of the times Steve Honig, Lindsay’s original publicist, released
statements regarding negative situations she was involved in seemed like bad attempts at
sweeping things under a rug they still technically stuck to the proper guidelines. In all of
his statements he never once deviated from the truth, he always spoke highly of Lindsay,
and was a good advocate for her career. Despite what seemed like a lack of skill on his
part, he still had her best interest at heart. In fact, even when he quit being her publicist
he was very private about the matter and never once said anything that would further hurt
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her reputation (Dillon 2012). The only situation that could be construed as unethical is
when he blamed the woman that accused Lindsay of instigating a fight as someone who
was shallow and just looking for fame. That statement shows an unwillingness to accept
responsibility, which is in direct contradiction to the value of independence that is listed
in code the PRSA provides.
Both of Lindsay’s appearances on TV with Oprah and on Chelsea Lately followed
the PRSA’s guidelines for ethical communication exactly as it was meant to be. She
allowed for full disclosure, which is important in gaining the trust of the public.
Regardless of the fact that in those situations she was not being spoken for by a publicist
or a representative they were still good examples of expertise and professionalism in the
PR field. Every time her ex-publicist would release a statement on her behalf it seemed
very insincere, but the fact that Lindsay was speaking for herself in a candid fashion on
television was a good call on the part of her team. As of right now it might be too early to
tell what the ethics of her docu-series will be like, but one can only hope that it follows
the same formula that was used in both of her TV appearances.
Of course Lindsay Lohan is by no means the first member of an organization to
be a part of a crisis and need the help of PR professionals. In fact, this has happened so
many times that there have been thousands of books and journal articles written by
scholars discussing the means PR representatives should use to avoid and solve this
issues. One of the leading experts in the field or organizational crisis management is Dr.
W. L. Benoit of Ohio University, and he has developed methods regarding the reparation
of an organization’s image. He has five main techniques for image repairing, but this
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paper will only discuss the three most commonly used: denial, offense reduction, and
mortification (Benoit 2013).
When an organization comes under fire for a negative event it has several options
to choose from that might help fix the damage that has already been done by the
situation. Denial is relatively straightforward, but there is more to it than many would
assume. In several cases many organizations have employed the denial method by simply
rejecting any allegations that are not in their favor. One example that Dr. Benoit uses is
when Pepsi accused Coca-Cola of raising prices for some accounts and not others. In
response to this Coca-Cola simply said that the accusation was completely baseless and
false. Another type of denial an organization might use is blame-shifting. Often times
when there are multiple groups involved in a crisis one of them may attempt to turn the
fault to another group in an attempt at denying they had any part in it.
Offense reduction is also an effective means of image repair. Sometimes an
organization that actually does good for society may become involved in some sort of
scandal, and when that happens a useful way of dealing with that situation is to divert
attention to the more positive aspects of the organization. In doing this it might actually
garner positive support from public, which would offset other negative associations.
Finally, mortification is a common practice used to divert undesirable attention by
confessing and begging for forgiveness. When a person or organization uses mortification
in the right way it can come across as genuine and that greatly helps their image.
One case of an organizational crisis that relied heavily on several methods for
image repair was Hugh Grant’s sex scandal in 1995. That year was quite a big one for
Grant as he was promoting a film in which he was featured in one of his first major roles.
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However, attention was diverted from the film when he was arrested for participating in
illicit activities with a prostitute. The same week he was arrested he was due to be a guest
on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and many other talk shows, but instead of cancelling
the appearance like many would do when in a situation such as this he decided to
continue with the interview.
Throughout his interviews he used several methods of image repair that Benoit
discusses in his article “Hugh Grant's image restoration discourse: An actor apologizes.”
One of the main ones he used was mortification. On each television appearance he never
once attempted to minimalize his actions and immediately confessed to what happened
and even showed that he fully understood the affect his actions had on others. He even
suggested that he deserves punishment for his actions. “I am humiliated, and I am
particularly humiliated by having to do this last weeks' run on—it’s like those monks in
the middle ages who used to crawl from city to city flagellating themselves" (quoted in
Benoit 2009). Using this approach helped the public see his sincerity and helped people
understand that he was not really a cad as he was being made out to be.
The only time Hugh Grant ever used denial as a technique was when he asked
during is appearances about other allegations that had been created during the ordeal. In
those situations he would say that even though he did do a negative thing, he would never
do the other things that he was being accused of. He followed up his denial with stating
that, "99% of what is in the papers and on TV is simply not true." Also, throughout his
interviews he would employ offense reduction by continuing to promote his film and
other projects he was working on. These two methods helped divert some of the negative
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attention away from him and bring it back to the more positive elements of his character
and career.
In the cases involving Lindsay Lohan and Hugh Grant they both used their own
means of image repair, and they seem to have had different effects for each of them.
During the climax of Lindsay’s bad behavior her image was continuously being
destroyed, and through no help of her ex-publicist it seemed as though it was going to
stay in ruins. Many people completely lost faith in her ability to bounce back from her
years spent partying, abusing substances, and being utterly irresponsible. Every time she
or her publicist would make an apology it seemed to do nothing, but this past year has
shown that there might be a difference being made.
Since her ex-publicist quit it appears as though her new PR team has done a much
better job at making her presentable to the public. In her television appearances she has
repeatedly claimed responsibility of her actions and by doing show she has been seen as
much more relatable to the public. There even seems to be some hope that she will be
able to return to sharing her talent of acting on the big screen. Also, by showing herself in
a much more decent light it suggests that she may be willing to participate in life in a
much more mature way. If she continues on the path she is headed down right now there
might be better things in store for her in the future.
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References
Coombs, W. Timothy. 2012. Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and
Responding. California: Sage.
Benoit, W. L. 2013. Image Repair Theory and Corporate Reputation, in The Handbook of
Communication and Corporate Reputation (ed C. E. Carroll), Blackwell Publishing
Ltd., Oxford, UK. doi: 10.1002/9781118335529.ch19
Marcus, Stephanie. 2012. “Lindsay Lohan Publicist Problem: Actress Having Hard Time
Finding New Rep.” Huffington Post.
Duke, Allen. 2012. “Lindsay Lohan’s troubled timeline.” CNN.
William L. Benoit. 1997. “Hugh Grant's image restoration discourse: An actor
apologizes.” Communication Quarterly, 45:3, 251-267, DOI:
10.1080/01463379709370064.
Duke, Allen. 2012. “Lindsay Lohan a suspect in burglary, but no charges planned.” CNN.
Dillon, Nancy. 2012. “Lindsay Lohan's publicist Steve Honig quits post amid starlet's
recent troubles.” Daily News.
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