What Is Black PR and How to Fight with It

20 mins read

Public relations (PR) has always been an important part of business promotion, but the Internet gave it a brand new boost and showcased the backside of this opportunity. Many entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and CEOs still don’t understand the power of the so-called Black PR, but it’s vital to do because it’s becoming a critical tool in their competitors’ strategy. 

What is Black PR? What to expect from it and how to cope with this problem? Keep reading my post if you want to find out the answers.

What is Black PR? 

It’s a bit tricky to answer this question quickly because the concept has been around for a while. While it originally came from marketing, now almost every PR agency uses this approach. Its widespread use shows how effective it is for advertising and promotion.

Black Public Relations, or Dark PR, is when someone intentionally tries to damage a competitor’s reputation. This practice focuses on highlighting or spreading false information about a competitor’s weaknesses. By doing this, those practicing Black PR aim to make their own brand or company look better in comparison.

Think of it as a set of actions designed to harm or damage the reputation of a specific brand, company, or individual. It can be done either subtly or openly to create reputational damage for a competitor.

Dark PR purposes:

  • create a negative image of the product;
  • destroy the company’s reputation;
  • form negative attitudes among consumers;
  • win over customers to your side.

The list of methods is almost countless, but negative PR is more applied to politicians, business professionals, startup founders, CEOs. Of course, you can notice tons of PR campaigns aimed toward popular activists and influencers.

Black PR Strategy Funnel

Black PR Techniques in Modern Marketing

You should know there are lots of methods that can be used. It depends only on the creativity and courage of the marketing department.

The well-known techniques for Black PR:

Publishing negative product reviews

A common Black PR method is to publish negative reviews about products or services. That way, you don’t directly assault the opponent but rather attack his/her latest or best-selling items. This tactic aims to impact public opinion and decrease competitors’ amount of sales.

Announcing corporate documents

This technique of Black PR mostly comes from the inside, when current or former employees reveals internal files and documents to harm the company. It’s often not so easy to identify its author, so be think twice when it comes to new candidate selection.

Backward praise

Creating deliberate compliments that are more likely to create a backlash. They use figurative ridicule of some feature through exaggerated praise.

Authoritative opinion

Using an influencer, for example, a famous blogger or media personality for their interest. Hence, the influencer brings negative information to the publicity that works against its business rival.

Exaggeration 

Many PR experts work with exaggeration: efficiently and rather easy. How it works: one feature of a product is taken as a basis and is presented in a way that provokes negative associations among the target audience. Sometimes this feature is greatly modified, its significance is exaggerated, thus, due to one product or feature with a “high-colored” negative association, the rating of the entire company falls.

Dual audience

In such a method, PR technologists bring an effect to one group of people, which in turn is capable to cause the desired reaction in another. Thus the influence on a given audience happens with the help of other intermediary audiences.

“Fall into the trap”

It implies the creation of a situation in which a competitor seems to find himself in an uncomfortable situation, and this, in turn, is aimed at destroying the company’s positive image;

Public outrage

This technique means an artificially created situation around a product or business that will cause a public outcry among customers.

Administrative capabilities 

In this option, the authorities are used against the company, which through many checks and audits are able not only to decrease the company’s rating but also to stop its production.

An artificial problem

In this case, a fictional problem is created around the product, which exaggerates and brings to the point of absurdity, which in turn destroys the overall reputation.

Unethical Marketing Tactics Overview

How to Fight with Black PR?

Now you understand the danger of Black PR, but do you know how to cope with it? There is no magic formula to fight with that, but you can use several strategies to nullify the negative campaigns. 

Information is almost the main weapon of any PR. It can be received in different ways and be presented in different contexts. This is why working with information is the first step. When talking about the ways to respond to black PR on the web you need to distinguish which tool was used. 

It is important to understand that black PR needs to be worked out and put under control. I chose the most efficient tactics for you:

Don’t panic

The first rule is fairly simple – you need to avoid panic reactions and stay calm. Keep in mind, that answering rumors and negative comments too emotionally will only make it worse.

Build Positive Online Reputation & Remove Negative from SERP

Competitors may begin to fight extremely aggressively, then they will pay for the publications on media that will appear at the TOP of search rankings. To remove negative SERP you need firstly publish articles with truthful positive information about your product and promote them on various sites to displace possible negativity. And you shouldn’t fight with this alone, check out PRNEWS.IO service, which will remove the negative from the first-page SERP on the most important keywords. The best way to outclass competitors and minimize the effect of Black PR campaigns is to publish the articles in reliable online media outlets. It will serve as an effective way to recover your brand or personal reputation as well as get better SEO rankings with high-quality backlinks to your website.

Articles for Talent Visa

Once the audience understands you are a trustworthy source of information, it will be hard for anyone to convince target customers that you are the cannibal in this story.

Educate your staff

The next piece of advice is to inform your staff about the crisis management plan. It will help you to build a trustworthy team of workers and teach each worker to respond to negative comments quickly and adequately.

Working with reviews 

The most effective way to work “in black” is to publish negative reviews and send them to special review sites. These reviews can include anything: compromising evidence, misinformation, may cause outrage, etc.

What you can do: Control all negative reviews that spoil the company’s reputation. Perhaps you shouldn’t work with reviews that were written a long time ago if you haven’t worked with them before. But the new negative must be monitored, processed, and leveled.

Present the facts

Another important rule of PR is, to stay honest, and present the facts. You shouldn’t fight lies with lies – your only chance to save reputation is to be direct and straightforward with the audience. If dishonest competitors are spreading lies about your products, you should answer with proven and data-driven facts, stats, and user reviews. 

Constantly keep an eye on the brand mentions

It’s an integral part of PR experts to work with misinformation, rudeness, and absolute lies all the time. For this activity, it is not a bad idea to have a team that will monitor the information field of your brand or product, control black PR stuff, and exposes something publicly. You have to act here very carefully and professionally not to harm your image. The sooner you react to Black PR, the faster you’ll cope with this problem. This is why I strongly recommend you to keep an eye on the brand mentions using Google Alerts, social media monitoring tools, and all other apps and programs that can track comments about you and your business.

Is Black PR Profitable?

Each PR should act for the glory and reputation of the company, using various promotion techniques. But here the question arises, is what we have already done before not black PR? The main line that separates black PR from what many of us do is a small and often thin line called “ethics.” No matter how many codes of conduct we adhere to, this line is directly connected to our core values, beliefs, and behaviors. However, another problem is starting to seep in at a deeper level – this trend needs to be changed to something more ethical. Unfortunately, lying seems more natural when it makes sense, such as when it helps you avoid embarrassing situations for your company.

In the meantime, not only companies and executives, but all of us must return to the belief that lying is never acceptable. In terms of trust, honesty, and often even finances, a company is better served by the truth than by a lie. For example, the famous PR scandal of Philip Morris in 2001, where they decided to convince the Czech government that the death of smokers has “positive” financial consequences for the country. The brand created a positive image for a company that produces a product that kills millions of people by turning death into a positive. The failed attempt by Philip Morris caused a wide public outcry, outrage, and a negative response from healthcare organizations. Philip Morris eventually canceled its plans to conduct similar studies in other countries.

Therefore, the answer to the question is – no, not profitable.

Black PR: Specific Examples

Nutella: Panic With Palm Oil

In 2016, panic broke out among Nutella consumers when it was announced in the news that it contained carcinogenic palm oil. The European Commission for Food Standards has warned that even casual use of this ingredient could pose a risk to children’s health, although scientists could not say what level of consumption is acceptable due to a lack of relevant research. After such a loud statement, the company must prove to consumers that it is defamation. So, to counter the accusations, Ferrero released the ingredients of its legendary chocolate hazelnut spread. The company also launched an advertising campaign to convince consumers of the safety of Nutella products. The manufacturer explained that the cream would lose its delicate and smooth consistency without adding this oil. In the end, the scandal did not affect sales.

Applebee’s: Why you can’t tip your waiter more than you tip God

In 2013, a check was photographed at an Applebee’s restaurant, on which a pastor customer wrote: “I give God 10%, why do you get 18%?”. The waitress posted this photo on social media because she thought it was funny, but the post instantly went viral and users started storming the company’s social media. Applebee’s responded by firing the waitress, but that didn’t stop the angry messages that rained down on the SMM team. The managers could not cope with the negativity and disabled comments for users on Facebook, so about 20 thousand messages remained unanswered. The company limited itself to a dry public statement: “We are very sorry and we would like this situation not to happen.” Applebee’s page managers deleted them instead of responding to the negative comments, further damaging the brand’s online reputation (SERM). The company was not able to come out of this situation with honor and to prevent such black PR, we would advise you to work with your employees on the rules of corporate etiquette and explain why it is important not to impersonate the company.

Amway: The Church of Satan

In 2007, a court ruling for Amway and a $19 million fine ended its black PR campaign against rival Procter & Gamble, which involved spreading rumors that P&G was funneling its profits to the Church of Satan. The trial, which began with one rumor, lasted 12 years. However, its origins date back to 1981. When the first voices appeared, claiming that the beard with the company’s logo was a mockery of the Apocalypse of St. John. The black PR practiced by Amway has received wide publicity. Neither the explanation of the P&G representatives nor the logo’s changes helped. This whole situation went down in history as an example of a crisis caused by a single rumor.

The Consequences: Is Black PR Worth Using?

Every business owner should know that practicing black PR is not a way to build your reputation or alleviate PR problems. Although public relations is still about image and public perception, times have changed. There is a stronger expectation that companies will be more transparent and accountable for their actions. Instead of trying to downplay competition and make it look bad or blame external circumstances for the crisis, we need to face the problems head-on. While it may be tempting to blame someone or something else, the reality is that mudslinging and accusations often lead to further public backlash rather than attracting new allies.

Consumers are now looking for more authentic interactions with companies. They often demonstrate that they value this more than just receiving the most important news about the company. Consumer confidence among the population is currently low, so black PR is a risky business. If this becomes known, it may do more harm than good to the company’s image in the long run.

While effective in the short term, black PR carries serious legal and criminal risks, especially if it involves the dissemination of false or defamatory information. In such cases, individuals or organizations responsible for these actions may be held legally liable. Defamation, protection of personal rights, and defamation provisions can lead to lawsuits against perpetrators of black PR. The consequences of such actions are usually high fines to compensate for the damage caused. In some jurisdictions, you may also be subject to criminal charges, which may result in further sanctions, including restrictions on your liberty.

Individuals or companies that become targets of such activities often counter them with their PR campaigns. The purpose of such activities is to protect against the negative influence of black PR and restore trust and brand image in the public’s eyes. This response is key to minimizing the long-term damage caused by negative campaigns.

Conclusion

Black PR is a controversial business phenomenon that can destroy years of hard work and building a reputation. The concept has become even more important in the digital era because anyone can create content, write reviews, or leave negative comments about you or your brand online. 

For this reason, it is essential to know the basics of Black PR, know what to expect from it, understand how to deal with the problem and what services can facilitate this job for you. You could learn all that in the post, so make sure to use the suggestions I mentioned. 

Do you have an experience with black PR? Feel free to add to our marketing library your story, leaving a comment.

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