How comms teams struggle to prevent crises

A series of major public relations (PR) crises have recently triggered widespread public backlash – from Arc’teryx’s ‘Himalayan Mountain Fireworks Show’ and an advert by Swatch accused of depicting ‘slanted eyes’, to the public dispute between Luo Yonghao and the XiBei restaurant chain. What these incidents have in common is that the root cause lay within functions meant to protect the brand: the marketing team or company leadership itself. In this article, Ulan Tuya asks why those entrusted with safeguarding a company’s reputation so often end up damaging it.

How do companies allow flawed campaigns or misguided messages to go public, sparking large-scale crises?

A key factor is arrogance. Before a crisis fully erupts, there is a widespread tendency to underestimate both the speed at which negative information spreads and the extent of the damage it can cause.

On 19^th September 2025, outdoor brand Arc’teryx sponsored artist Cai Guo-Qiang to present the ‘Ascending Dragon’ fireworks display in the Zirelong area of the Tibet Autonomous Region, triggering a major PR crisis over alleged damage to the plateau’s ecosystem.

The incident damaged the company in a number of ways:

• Corporate reputation: The brand faced widespread condemnation across the Chinese internet.
• Brand image: It became the target of memes and online jokes.
• Consumer trust: Loyal users expressed shame and talked about ‘covering the logo’ on products they had bought from the company.
• Environmental credibility: The company’s previous environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts were publicly questioned.
• Stakeholder backlash: Influential key opinion leaders, celebrities and writers openly criticised the brand.
• Media scrutiny: Criticism came from top-tier party media, official outlets and business publications.
• Institutional condemnation: Several industry associations issued statements of condemnation.
• Legal and regulatory consequences: Local officials involved were dismissed, and Arc’teryx is expected to face legal repercussions.
• Long-term impact: The brand will likely encounter greater resistance in applying for similar outdoor event permits in the future.

Could this crisis have been avoided?

Should the Arc’teryx team have seen it coming? Any PR team with a basic respect for Chinese law and social norms ought to have raised immediate red flags when the idea was first proposed. A competent risk assessment would have taken into account:

1. The highly fragile ecosystem of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
2. The Ecological Conservation Law of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
3. The Grassland Law.
4. The public perception of the region as a place for ‘spiritual purification’.
5. The deeply ingrained public awareness of urban firework bans since 1993.
6. Existing public backlashes over previous firework displays due to environmental concerns.

Arc’teryx is not alone. PR crises originating from internal communication functions are frequent. Other examples include:

• 2018: The Dolce & Gabbana ‘eating with chopsticks’ advertisement.
• 2019: Muji’s use of the term ‘French Concession’ in a Weibo marketing post.
• 2021: Dior’s photography exhibition that was accused of using ‘slanted eye’ models to insult China.
• 2022: Procter & Gamble’s WeChat article titled Women’s Feet Are Five Times Smellier Than Men’s, criticised as insulting to women.
• 2022: FAW Audi’s advertisement starring Andy Lau, exposed as plagiarised.
• 2023: The MINI Cooper ice cream incident at the Shanghai Auto Show, made worse by a poorly handled PR statement.

Root causes: a management perspective

The problem stems from fundamental structural flaws within organisations:

1. Siloed functions: Media relations, social media, marketing events, and advertising are often managed by separate, disconnected teams.
2. Fragmented supply chains: Relying on numerous external vendors increases the risk of messages going off-script or becoming uncontrolled.
3. The weakened role of PR: Corporate PR is often excluded from the content creation process, acting as a gatekeeper only after the fact – if at all. Much external communication is published without any PR or risk-management review. Some companies have no PR function at all.
4. Misaligned key performance indicators: There is a fundamental conflict of goals. PR is evaluated on reducing public opinion risks, while marketing is incentivised to pursue ‘breakthrough creativity’ that goes viral. This drives marketing teams—pushed by aggressive performance targets—to take risks that PR would avoid.
5. No ultimate gatekeeper: There is no central authority empowered to conduct unified reviews of all outgoing communication. Most critically, no one is empowered to say no to high-level decisions that carry significant reputational risks.

Taking a proactive approach

To close this gap, organisations must take action across three dimensions: awareness, process, and authority.

• Enhance risk awareness: Recognise that not every member of the communication team is naturally equipped to identify public opinion risks. Provide regular training in public sentiment analysis, crisis case studies, and relevant laws and regulations. Keep the team updated on social trends and cultural sensitivities to prevent misjudgements based on outdated information.
• Streamline approval processes: Break down departmental silos and implement a cross-functional review system. All external content—including campaigns, advertisements and press releases—should be evaluated by PR or dedicated risk-control staff. Manage external vendors rigorously, embedding public opinion risk clauses into service agreements.
• Empower the gatekeeper function: Redefine the PR department’s role by granting it veto power over high-risk communication initiatives. Establish an independent ‘public opinion gatekeeper’ role, held by someone with both expertise and organisational authority. For major campaigns, require a pre-release risk assessment report to be submitted directly to decision makers.

Finally, senior leadership must institutionalise a ‘say no’ mechanism. They should respect professional judgment, ensure all key decisions undergo risk evaluation, and avoid prioritising short-term creativity and engagement at the expense of long-term brand reputation.

Conclusion

The PR crises experienced by companies like Arc’teryx and Swatch serve as a warning: in today’s world of instant information spread, every external statement and marketing activity can become the starting point of a crisis. The failure of public opinion early-warning mechanisms is ultimately a failure of corporate management and accountability.

Only by embedding risk prevention into daily operations and approaching public sentiment and social norms with humility and respect can companies protect their brand reputation and achieve sustainable growth. After all, a brand’s true value lies not in fleeting viral moments, but in the long-term accumulation of trust.

Ulan Tuya is a senior PR consultant with over 20 years of experience. She is the founder of Linglong Gezhi PR Consultancy Co Ltd.