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Paula Deen was not, is not, and will not be your ordinary celebrity. In fact, her celebrity came to form late in her life. At a time when most are preparing for empty nest syndrome or planning for retirement Paula Deen was discovered, and found wealth. Paula went from a normal mother to chef stardom, and everyone took notice. Having raised several kids, while still providing warm home cooked meals made her relatable to the everyday American. She provided indulgent delicious recipes that would please any taste bud. Fans quickly accepted the name Paula Deen to be synonymous with delicious, and with The Food Network and other big names adding to her credibility she went from your grandma next door to a millionaire “buttah-queen” on T.V.

With the exception of girls on strict diets, it seemed for a period that everyone had some form of love for Paula’s southern charm and down home cooking. But what blows up, must come down.

In a market of social exchange theory Paula looses. Now this southern miss is under fire, stemming from an allegation of racism, and flowering into the exposure of her real life:living with type 2 diabetes. She is clearly promoting unhealthy recipes when she should have learned from the direct consequences of her poor health. I understand that Paula did not want to publicly announce her diabetes for fear of her image, but if she considered the social exchange theory, she would have realized the long term costs far outweigh the benefits. Now she is facing the consequences, and being seen as a liar, as well as a bad influence on America. She first publicly announced she was living with type 2 diabetes for three years on the Today Show, but instead of using her charm she came off as though she was portraying herself as a victim. She missed a huge opportunity to educate victims of the disease.

Soon after she had a special on Doctor OZ confessing her health issues, and discussing the dangers of her high caloric southern diet. She pathetically asked for Doctor Oz’s help to break her worst habits. And that was the last we heard about her choosing a different path.

We can also scrutinize Paula Deen for being a bad role model within the social learning theory. Is Paula Deen a sellout for capitalizing on her diabetes and partnering with a diabetes drug company, which led to her cover-ups? Paula went from being a spokesperson for southern fried cooking, to being the spokesperson for the drug company Novo. Once The Food Network caught wind of her cover-up of her health condition she was soon dropped. Paula made a bad behavior choice and was punished for it.

Paula Deens integrity is appearing to be as solid as a stick-o-butta. It’s no wonder once she had to face the heat she spiraled into a meltdown! I think there’s a fat chance that she will ever restore her brand to what it was.

When the cover up of her lifestyle was exposed Paula still had all the power to turn it into something positive. Her fan base has been founded upon her relate-ability. Diabetes affects 26 million Americans, and is the third most common cause of death. If she had a good P.R. they should have advised her to become very active in speaking about diabetes, and seriously promoting the prevention of the disease. Being the third leading cause of death in the united states, should could have re-released her cookbooks with simple substitutions that would make them more heart healthy. For example olive oil instead of 4 sticks of butter, whole wheat flour vs. white flour, etc.

Also Paula could have used this as a gain and put out a low-impact workout video. I believe she could have done a great job with her personality, and also served as motivation as people watched her body transform. Middle aged women and stay at home mothers would have been likely to pick up the regimen, the same as they did her cookbooks.

Also, Paula should have stressed the importance of reversing the effects of diabetes, and spoke out against her previous unhealthy life style choices. By not doing any of these things, and being under scrutiny in the public eye, she has now lost her credibility.

Now Paula could even be seen as a mockery, and all of her previous sponsors have dropped her to avoid damaging their reputation by association. Such games as this one linked from TMZ show how she in becoming a fuel source for puns. I also have found multiple websites, including this twitter page, that are constatly turning her into a negative joke. Lets hope Paula is financially sound enough to take a break from the public eye.

Paula Deen: Picking up the pieces game

In June of 2013, the Food Networks most exciting southern belle rapidly became the Nation’s most interesting and controversial topic. Paula Deen soon found herself in an uncontrollable twist of fate, when in just under two weeks, all her major partners began dropping her from their accounts when allegations of racial discrimination were reported against her.

Paula Deen took matters into her own hands and she suffered the consequences. She demonstrated a lack of remorse, several failed attempts at sincere apologies, self-victimization, and poor conduct. Overall, her short comings was due to poor communication to her partners and poor crisis management in handling the media and steps to make amends with the public.

In total, 13 companies had let Paula Deen go, equaling almost over 30% of her total income. Major recognizable companies included the Food Network, Smithfield, QVC, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Kmart, JC Penny, Sears, Walgreens, Caesars, Random House’s Ballantine Books, and Novo Nordisk.

 
Even though her partners did not favor her choices, her fans were sure to be loyal. Paula Deen was a celebrity chef, role model, and public figure to the community. When the media had spread word on her current situation, the reaction from her fans was monumental. They quickly came to her defense to support her in numerous ways.

Fans had joined together to boycott all major companies that had been sponsoring her before they let her go. Over 611,000 people created a Facebook page entitled “We Support Paula Deen.” Additionally, a petition was created to get the Food Network to hire her back and renew her contract. Over 38,530 signatures occupy the petition through change.org. Paula has been extremely fortunate to have a large fan base willing to defend her. The community has done nothing but show continuous support for her since June.

These two situations of Paula’s professional relationships coming to an end and her personal support base come to the rescue are clear examples of the Social Exchange Theory.

This theory acknowledges individuals and groups as choosing strategies based on the perceived rewards and costs. It is used to predict behavior through the use of a cost benefit analysis. Social exchange theory posits that all human relationships are formed through this analysis. People factor in the consequences of their behavior before acting in order to keep costs low and rewards high.

In this example I would argue that the strategy chosen by her group of business partners evaluated their perceived situation as a cost to them because she was a high risk when there were racial discrimination allegations against her. Her loyal fan base thought highly of her and chose strategies, like creating a Facebook fan page and a petition, for the perceived awards of getting her back on the Food Network and other cooking shows.

The decisions that Paula Deen made not only effected herself, but her stakeholders and her supporters. She lost her business partners due to her mistakes. The silver lining was the abundant support she gained from adoring fans. Paula needs to seek out this continued support from her fan base and seek out to build relationships with her remaining stakeholders in order to keep her rewards high and her costs low.

Paula Deen was deposed in June of 2013 where she admitted that she used racial slurs and made jokes that degenerate blacks. Though this is horrible in it’s own right, it is not a situation where one cannot recover if handled properly. This is where Deen dug herself a deeper hole.

Systems theory states that organizations and their environments are interdependent. Many public relations problems arise because of a closed system vs an open system. In the case of Paula Deen, decisions were made that did not adapt or seek to adapt to the environment; she didn’t hold herself accountable to her publics or stakeholders as evidenced by not one,

or two,

but three failed video apologies. Deen’s communication, though may have been timely, was not well crafted or sincere and did not focus on customers, publics or the environment. And here is her appearance on the Today show.

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Not a good showing.

In this example I would argue that Paula Deen attempted to follow the systems theory protocol but fell short. Prepared video apologies felt insincere, forced, and showed that she didn’t even really understand what she was apologizing for. In crisis management you’re given one chance at an apology, and if is lacking in sincerity you face isolation from your market. News agencies picked up and delivered this disingenuous messages, and the system backfired on her. It didn’t backfire because of the system itself, but rather because of how she played the victim and skirted taking responsibility for her actions. By doing so, Deen failed to show publics and stakeholders that she, as a leader, could show remorse, sympathy (for others), growth, direction and strength.

This scandal doesn’t have to completely ruin Deen. If she smartens up and uses this experience to actually learn and teach others that one can take responsibility she’ll be able to restrengthen her name and somewhat recover. I doubt her career and reputation will ever be the same, but with proper public relations and crisis management she’ll be able to slowly build her brand back up.

By Kelsey Gallagher

In January of 2012, Paula Deen, the “Buttah Queen” of the South, known for her recipes that call for considerable amounts of butter and heavy cream, attempts to justify her decision to wait three years to reveal her diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and recent partnership with diabetes drug developer, Novo Nordisk; rather than give the public a genuine apology.

Donna Shaft, a battling type 2 diabetic for 20 years, calls Deen a hypocrite,

“We of course don’t know the terms of her contract with the drug company, but it seems either stupid or hypocritical of them to be endorsing the eating lifestyle she advocates. For her to publicly facilitate the illusion that a T2 can consume the quantities of fats and carbs and sugars she showcases, even occasionally, is nothing short of a dangerous abuse of the trust many in her audience place in her as an influential public figure.”

Deen continues to justify her actions by stating that she was unable to present advice to the public when she was initially diagnosed, but feels as though she is currently making a contribution.

Food Network’s spokeswoman, Ambre Morley, said the company was unaware of Deen’s diagnosis when it first contacted her about promoting new healthy alternatives to her show.

Situational theory recognizes that not all stakeholders communicate properly within an organization. The idea is to identify publics and whether they are active or passive in order to know which groups need more attention and how to specifically target certain messages.

There was a lack of communication between Deen, the Food Network, and other sponsors such as Kmart, JcPenney, Walgreens, and Sears; Deen failed to inform the public and the Food Network of her condition when she was first diagnosed and continued to promote her infamous southern dishes; the public (especially the diabetic community) does not accept Deen’s justification for withholding her health conditions and argues against her; the diabetic community is upset and calls Deen a hypocrite for proceeding to promote her unhealthy dishes while also partnering with diabetes drug developer, Novo Nordisk.

In this example, I would argue that Deen failed to satisfy the public when she withheld her diagnosis of type 2 diabetes from the public and the Food Network. She undoubtedly did not anticipate the backlash from the diabetic community when she contradicted herself by collaborating with Nova Nordisk to make a profit. As a public figure, Deen should have used this opportunity to become an advocate for diabetes with no expected profits and shine light on the disease by promoting healthy living alternatives for battling diabetics.