Critical Analysis: Social Media Campaign for Restructuring Bank Image

This report analyzes a bank's proposed social media campaign leveraging the 'Me Too' movement to rebuild its brand image after a series of scandals. It critiques the strategy, highlighting potential backlash due to the movement's controversies and internal divisions, using radical structuralism to explain the power dynamics and potential conflicts. The report suggests alternative, less controversial social media campaign ideas focusing on childcare, girl child education, and gender equality in the workplace. It emphasizes the importance of creating a cohesive and empathetic narrative to resonate with the audience and improve the bank's reputation. The report concludes by recommending that the bank prioritize genuine commitment to social responsibility over exploiting sensitive social movements for marketing purposes. Desklib provides this document as well as a wealth of resources including past papers and solved assignments.

Running Head: RESTRUCTURING BARND IMAGE
Restructuring Brand Image
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
Executive Summary
This research talks about restructuring the image of bank through a social media campaign. The
bank has faced certain controversies and now they are desperately trying to rebuild their image.
They had decided to capitalize on the ‘Me Too’ movement as it has garnered a lot of attention
and praise in the recent times. This research has shown that the movement has a lot of
controversies, feminists were divided in their opinion of the movement, many said that it did not
meet the end it was supposed to and many believed that it was not enough inclusive. Hence
taking up this movement might not help in rebuilding the brands identity. With the help of the
radical structural paradigm, it can the said the bank being at the position of the power and the
women whose wishes were not fulfilled through the movement, might e in conflict with each
other and this might lead to a structural change in the bank’s hierarchy. In that case, taking up the
‘Me Too’ movement might prove harmful for the company’s image. The research has given
certain alternative idea for the social media campaign such as childcare, education of the girl
child and gender disparity and work force. The research suggests that these might help the brand
in rebuilding their image.

2RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Reasons for a Backlash against the Social Media Campaign......................................................3
Understanding the Negative Impact of the Campaign through Radical Structuralism...............4
Recommendations for Helping the Bank with Social Media Campaign.....................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

3RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
Introduction
A bank that has been hit by many scandals for the past few years, needs to reconstruct its
brand image so that the business of the bank does not get affected more than it already has. They
breached anti-money laundering laws, withheld payouts and the bank charged deceased customer
for services they obviously did not provide. Another major reason why the bank has been
criticized is its lack of diversity among its employees. To improve this image of the bank, the
executives have decided to engage in some corporate social responsibility (Homburg, Stierl and
Bornemann 2013). They have been trying to change this negative image into positive through
some corporate social responsibility; the bank has set aside some budget to invest in some in
some non-profit organizations. They have decided to capitalize on the ‘Me Too’ movement and
invest their money on organizations that deal with violence against women. They have planned
on developing a social media campaign focusing on the ‘Me Too’ movement. But there are
certain ideological problems in doing so. The movement has its own controversy, many
journalists have criticized the movement saying that is not effective and it has not reached
everyone equally (Sabur, 2019). To use such a movement in building their brand image would
not solve their problem but escalate it. This report will try to find out the reasons why this social
media campaign is not good for the brand image and it will use the theory of radical
structuralism to point out the disparities in the movement and the rand campaign.

4RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
Discussion
Reasons for a Backlash against the Social Media Campaign
The ‘Me Too’ movement has garnered a lot of attention since its inception. When Alyssa
Milano asked every sexual harassment survivor to post ‘Me Too’ on their social media, the
whole world responded and it got so popular over time that a ‘Me Too’ movement launched with
the support of Hollywood celebrities. However, as the number of allegations increased, the
difference of opinion among women also came out in the open. The discussion has been wide
ranging, from talking about the scope of the movement, whether it should be limited to
workplace harassment or it should extend it a bigger context of talking about inequality and the
most grave concern was if the allegations turn out to be false, in that case what would be the
course of action, these questions by the critics questioned the authenticity of the movement
(Subedar 2019). According to Tarana Burke (Rodino 2018), who is the founder of the movement
before Alyssa Milano popularized it, talks about the idea of ‘transformative empathy’, which
according to her means to listen to the others, the victims and not treating them as outsiders or
different from us. Burke also states that the kind of empathy attached to the movement should
allow the victims to express their angers. This suggest that there is a lot of positive emotions that
is attached to this movement, capitalizing on it to change the brand image of company might
come of as being exploitative and using a human cry as a popular idea. This campaign might not
go down well with the women working at the office, they might consider it offensive in the sense
that when it comes to equality no one is granting them what they deserve, but when it comes to
change the image of the company they authorities would use the same movement to clear their
name. Although the basis idea for which the movement was created remains unfulfilled.

5RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
Understanding the Negative Impact of the Campaign through Radical
Structuralism
The idea that the ‘Me too’ movement is not fit to reconstruct the brand image of the bank
can be understood through the theory of radical structuralism. Burrell and Morgan (1979) have
talked about ‘Four Paradigms of Information System Development’. The representation of this
four paradigm has been done in relation to objective vs. subjective and order vs. conflict
dichotomies. The four paradigms as described by Morgan and Burrell are functionalism, social
relativism; neohumanism and radical structuralism. In this study, the radical structuralism
paradigm will be used. Radical structuralism views the world from an objective point of view.
This paradigm propagates radical change, potentiality and emancipation ad potentiality analysis a
situation. On the basis of this paradigm, theorists believe that there is an inherent conflict in
every situation. The conflict is the reason for any change that occurs in society. The main
exponents of this line of thoughts are Karl Marx, Frederic Engels and Vladimir Lenin. Their
ultimate belief is that change is inherent in every social structure. This idea that internal conflict
can give rise to new change is at the center of the ‘Me Too’ movement (Peregrin 2017). They
tried to do something radical by uniting all the women of the world who have been harassed in
any way to speak out and everyone know that something has happened that needed attention. But
the outcome of the movement was not as it was expected. There were many groups of women
that were left out and the critics of the movements said that women are not united enough to fight
the battle (Onwuachi-Willig 2018). A campaign based on this movement might prove
unsuccessful, because the women had tried to question the power structure and the hierarchy by
challenging the men, so when a person at power will try to use this campaign for restructuring
their brand image they might question that without the movement helping them in any way, they

6RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
are capitalizing the value of the movement (Risman and Davis 2013). The movement itself
generated a lot of contradiction in its internal structure. The radical structuralist studies the
relationship between the labor the capital, between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (Hassard,
2019). In this case, if the campaign is taken into consideration, it can be said that the people
making the policy and implementing it are in a position of power, the company that has gone
through the crisis is the capitalist organization and the women fighting for their rights are the
masses who are being ruled. From this scenario it can be said that in this power structure the
people who are making the social media campaign is the bank and the down in the power strata
are the women of the bank. According to the radical structuralist paradigm, this internal conflict
generating from the difference in the power will lead to a feud that might affect the structure of
the company (Callaghan 2016). According to this paradigm, there will be a structural shift every
time there is dissension among the powerless and the powerful (Iannello 2013). This movement
will generate a significant amount of hatred from the women of the office who will protest
saying that the movement was meant to be helping women and not for gaining popularity in
social media (Ioanăs and Stoica 2014). They might protest saying that the bank is using it to gain
popularity and not understand what the movement actually stands for. Not only women but also
men who support the movement might object to it. As a gender normative society, the women
are the repressed and the men are the ruler, in this sense using a feminist movement to help the
bank will mean that the powerful are exploiting the powerless to fulfill their agenda. Germaine
Greer, who has been a staunch believer in feminism since the 1970s, has stated that the
movement has failed to reach any destination, it has lost its momentum and she also critics the
fact that the movement has portrayed women as the victim of the situation (Greer, 2019).

7RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
Recommendations for Helping the Bank with Social Media Campaign
The bank can choose some other ideas to capitalize on, leaving the ‘Me Too’ movement
as it clearly will negatively impact the image of the brand. In order to successfully change the
image of the brand, they need to do something else such as change motto of the company, make
it more inclusive and diverse, talk about their gender inclusive work force or talk to some of the
clients, who have been satisfied with the business of the bank. The value of social media
campaigns have increased over the years, data has shown that in the year 2014 companies
invested $17.74 billion in social media advertisements which $4 billion more from the year 2013
(Kumar et al. 2016).
There are innovative ways in which the company can rebuild their brand identity. The
primary thing that they need to focus on is mark their presence across all social media platforms.
It is of prime importance that every company who is trying to mark their presence in the digital
world, provide regular content on social media platforms which are new and creative and has
incentives for the customer (Ashley and Tuten 2015). For creating a successful social media
campaign, a topic has to be chosen which is relevant but not controversial, something related to
the current scenario, which people can relate to yet not have negative opinions about. Through
their social media accounts, the bank should create awareness. Making their presence felt
through various hash tags and providing the followers with some gifts and games is a way to
successfully initiate a campaign. The campaign should successfully connect with the audience.
Social media has made is easy for every company to successfully connect with their potential
customers around the world. Social media campaigns not only change the image of the brand but
also increase the traffic at the website of the company. The content for the campaign should not
be drag; it has to provide some information about their brand and also about an issue.

8RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
Through this social media campaign the brand needs to create a story, it should contain a
cohesive plot, there should be few characters with defined roles, a proper climax and the plot
should have a positive outcome that the audience can empathize with, hence making sure they
remember this story attached to the brand’s name (Gensler et al. 2013). The story that the brand
creates through its social media campaign is what will have to stand out for the customer because
of the recent crisis and their negative image in the media. The customer’s business will depend
on the effectiveness of the campaign (Kumar et al. 2016). The bank decided to take up the ‘Me
Too’ movement to rebuild their brand but instead of taking up a controversial movement that
bank can take up other issues that are related to the empowerment of women like gender
disparity, education of the girl child or the excessive cost of child care. These ideas would not
only resonate with the audience but also generate a sense of empathy among them (Einolf,
Philbrick and Slay 2013). The brand could take up a topic like the welfare of children and relate
to the loans that they give for student education, this might prove to be an effective campaign as
student loans and education in general is quite costly in today’s world (Paek et al 2013). If they
take up this idea of child welfare, they might be able reconstruct their image by showing that
they care about the recent hike in all around prices of everything and they would do as much as
possible to help with the upbringing of children. Universal child care is getting a lot of
prominence in today’s world, it is being said that universal child care is leveling the playing field
so if the bank takes up the issue of the cost of child education, it will resonate with all the parents
and might help the bank change its image (Havnes and Mogstad 2015). Another issue that will
help the bank reconstruct their brand image is the issue gender inclusivity. If the campaign talks
about the problems of gender disparity in the workplace that will also resonate with the masses.
The problem of men occupying more seats in the workplace than women has become of the one

9RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
prime issues of the 21st century, if the bank take up a campaign like this and it might help them
rebuild their image as they have been criticized for their lack of diversity (Maes, Leroy and Sels
2014). Scholars have talked about the various factors that lead women to have less access to jobs
than men do. Problems with accessing proper institutions and organizations during adolescents
and childhood makes their choices limited and hinders them from getting the quality of education
they deserve (Fitzsimmons, Callan and Paulsen 2014). In the light of this, the bank can take up
the idea of gender inclusive workplace and talk about their workforce and some initiatives that
will help with the education of the girl child. There can be two issues from one, the schemes
related to the education of the girl child and the gender disparity in workplace. These two issues
if the bank takes up, it might help them bring about a change in their image. The bank has also
set aside certain amount of money for their corporate social responsibility; they have planned on
donating a certain amount of money to charities that deal with violence against women. The
issues that are suggested in the research that the bank can take up to help rebuild its image align
with their corporate social responsibility activities. The charities that they have chosen will also
benefit from the bank if they pick up these issues in their social media campaign.
Conclusion
This research concludes that, in order to change their image in the media, the company
needs to come up with ideas that are both relevant and relatable. The campaign that they plan on
putting up in social media should have a proper plot with well written characters; they need to
send out a positive message to the audience and the audience need to be able to relate to it.
Although the bank decided on taking up the ‘Me Too’ movement but that might prove
disadvantageous for the image of the company. The movement generated a lot of controversies

10RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
and taking up a controversial movement to an already disputed brand might prove to be harmful.
By applying the ideas of the radical structural paradigm, it could be said that the powerful is
exploiting the power and that might create a conflict among the works. The powerful being the
bank who is encashing a movement which is for ending harassment to women, to rebuild their
brand image and the powerless are the women who did not get the desired result from the
movement but are getting exploited by the bank. This dichotomy of power will create conflict
and will not help the brand with their agenda of creating positive image. The research suggested
certain alternative ideas that will help the bank like education of the girl child and ending gender
disparity in the workplace. These ideas would help the bank build a new positive image and
change their brand identity, it will attract a lot a attention for these ideas are positive and will
bring out a sense of empathy among the people that are viewing it.

11RESTRUCTURING BRAND IMAGE
References
Ashley, C. and Tuten, T., 2015. Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory
study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1),
pp.15-27.
Callaghan, C.W., 2016. Critical theory and contemporary paradigm differentiation. Acta
Commercii, 16(2), pp.59-99.
Einolf, C.J., Philbrick, D.M. and Slay, K., 2013. National giving campaigns in the United States:
Entertainment, empathy, and the national peer group. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Quarterly, 42(2), pp.241-261.
Fitzsimmons, T.W., Callan, V.J. and Paulsen, N., 2014. Gender disparity in the C-suite: Do male
and female CEOs differ in how they reached the top?. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(2), pp.245-
266.
Gensler, S., Völckner, F., Liu-Thompkins, Y. and Wiertz, C., 2013. Managing brands in the
social media environment. Journal of interactive marketing, 27(4), pp.242-256.
Greer, G. 2018. Has #MeToo failed?. [online] Aljazeera.com. Available at:
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/headtohead/2018/07/metoo-failed-
180717145036789.html [Accessed 1 Jun. 2019].
Hassard, J. 2019. Multiple Paradigms and Organizational Analysis: A Case Study.
[ebook]SagePublishing.Availableat:https://study.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/