Sponsor Response Strategies for Avoiding Negative Brand Image Effects in a Sponsorship Crisis: The Comparative Efficacy of Apology, Denial and No Comment

摘要

Sports properties such as mega events or clubs are generally highly attractive partners for corporate sponsors. However, due to their propensity for scandals (e.g. corruption, drug abuse or match fixing), sports properties may at times become liabilities to sponsors with which they are linked. Such negative incidents usually cause an episode of negative publicity that threatens the image of sponsors, a situation that is referred to as a sponsorship crisis. This research examines the effectiveness of three communicative response strategies (i.e. apology, denial, no comment) that sponsors can use to minimise negative image effects in a sponsorship crisis. The results show that the effectiveness of the response strategies is contingent on the level of crisis responsibility that is attributed to the sponsor: in the case of high responsibility attributions, only an apology protects the sponsor from reputational damage, while apology and denial are equally effective in the case of low responsibility attributions. The findings also highlight the idea that sponsors should avoid a no-comment strategy, independent of their crisis responsibility.