Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
Brand and Media Strategy
Date of Award
12-2020
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Susan E. Waters
Committee Members
Chase A. Mitchell, Mildred W. Perreault
Abstract
On April 10, 2019, a global crisis began outside Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. A Boeing 737 Max 8 airplane owned and operated by Ethiopian Airline crashed in the desert killing all on board. The accident mimicked a six months old Lion Air flight 610 which happened in Indonesia and claimed the lives of all crew and passengers. Together, these accidents claimed the lives of 346 people and have been noted as one of the dark days in modern aviation history. Subsequently, the aviation world grounded all Boeing 737 Max aircrafts amid safety concerns. This brought severe public criticism to Boeing, America’s biggest manufacturing exporter, relative to the safety of its flagship airplane. Applying crisis communication theories such as Apologia, SCCT, and Image Restoration, the study finds that these strategies together with other public relations strategies could support public perception in favor of Boeing.
Document Type
Thesis - embargo
Recommended Citation
Eshun, Ernest, "The Defeathered Bird: A Case Study of the Boeing 737 Max Crisis" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3840. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3840
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.