PR Research!

Looking through the Public Relations Research Journal, I was able to find a long list of articles looking at different campaigns and situations found within the PR community. One article stuck out to be specifically. #RaceTogether: Starbucks’ Attempt to Discuss Race in America and Its Impact on Company Reputation and Employees. This study was put on by four different professors, all from the college of communications from all different Universities, The professors include: Alan Abitbol, Nicole Lee, Trent Seltzer, and Sun Young Lee. The professors wanted to analyze the new Starbucks campaign at the time. They viewed the different responses on social media and the responses of employees. Their study included both qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative included the interviews put on of the employees. They also researched statistics which counts as quantitative research. This article really gives a look at how companies may handle hard backlash from a campaign. It also shows how qualitative and quantitave information can be used interminglingly. Many people may not have agreed with the backlash, but Starbucks was not losing hardly any business. It showed how people interact on social media as well, when they do not agree with an issue. The article also works to answer research questions and find a strong product. Overall the article showed interesting previous research of Starbucks and how much a bad campaign can affect sales and reputation. So many people are loyal to Starbucks so the sales were hardly affected as much as others could have. Social media is the big thing that can showcase opinions and bring people together, who may otherwise not be. Public Relations covers so many topics and situations and I think this research study shows even more situations within PR and how to handle it, and how to prepare for this same situation.