General managers (GMs) are typically the liaison between executives and staff. While not in charge of the organization itself, the GM still has a responsibility to ensure their direct reports are following legal guidelines and they need to mitigate risks; however, there are times when incidents happen, and the executive team needs to mitigate the legal exposure through public relations (PR).
Search the internet for an event that occurred within the last 5 years in which a company has needed to manage their reputation due to legal exposure. Summarize the incident and answer the following questions in your post:
What were the legal issues?
How did the PR team mitigate the legal issues?
Incident: In 2021, a class action lawsuit was filed against Tesla alleging that the company’s self-driving technology was defective and had caused multiple accidents. The lawsuit alleged that Tesla had knowingly misled consumers about the capabilities of its self-driving technology and had failed to take adequate steps to ensure its safety.
Legal issues: The legal issues in this case were product liability and false advertising. Tesla was accused of selling a product that was not safe as advertised and of causing injuries to consumers.
PR response: Tesla’s PR team responded to the lawsuit by issuing a statement denying the allegations and reaffirming the company’s commitment to safety. The company also released a blog post explaining the technology behind its self-driving system and how it was designed to prevent accidents.
In addition, Tesla’s PR team worked to promote positive stories about the company and its self-driving technology. For example, the company released a video showing a Tesla vehicle driving itself from Los Angeles to San Francisco without any human intervention.
Mitigating legal exposure: Tesla’s PR response helped to mitigate the legal exposure by downplaying the severity of the allegations and by highlighting the company’s commitment to safety. The company’s response also helped to maintain public confidence in the company and its products.
Conclusion: Tesla’s response to the class action lawsuit is a good example of how a company can use PR to mitigate legal exposure. The company’s PR team was able to downplay the severity of the allegations and highlight the company’s commitment to safety. This helped to maintain public confidence in the company and its products.
Additional thoughts:
Lessons learned:
2000 word essay:
The 2021 class action lawsuit against Tesla is a good example of how a company can use PR to mitigate legal exposure. The company’s PR team was able to downplay the severity of the allegations and highlight the company’s commitment to safety. This helped to maintain public confidence in the company and its products.
In order to write a 2000 word essay on this topic, you could discuss the following:
You could also interview experts on product liability law, false advertising law, and PR to get their insights on the case. You could also conduct research on public opinion polls to see how public perception of Tesla changed after the lawsuit was filed.
Here are some specific questions you could address in your essay:
I hope this gives you some ideas for how to write a 2000 word essay on the Tesla class action lawsuit and how the company used PR to mitigate legal exposure.