Abstract

In the fall of 2015, U.S. regulators discovered that German automaker Volkswagen had installed “cheat devices” on millions of their “clean diesel” engines. These devices allowed VW to deceive inspectors with regard to their auto emissions. In truth, these cars were polluting the air up to forty times more than they were supposed to. This article examines VW’s public relations strategies during the crisis in the context of Caldiero’s principles of Neo-PR, a postmodern perspective that outlines strategies relevant to media and social media, and the nature of communication today. Analysis discovered that VW did a poor job of handling the crisis and, more importantly, misunderstood the nature of public relations thinking in a postmodern world.

Key Words: Neo-PR, Crisis Communication, Volkswagen, Postmodernism

^JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 12, No. 1, April 2020, pp. 101-111

© Association of Media and Communication Researchers of Nigeria.

About the author

*   Christopher Caldiero, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor, Communication Studies, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison New Jersey, U.S.A.

Full Article

Words: 7,261

Pages: 11

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Article Citation

Caldiero, C. (2020). Volkswagen’s “clean engine” crisis in the United States: An examination in the context of neo-PR. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 12 (1): 101 – 111.