Paula Deen: Racial Comments

By: Ryan Auerbach

For the past decade or so Americans across the country have turned on their TV and felt comfortable watching multiple cooking shows starring Paula Deen, the sweet, butter-loving, southern woman with grandma-like tendencies and recipes that could make anybody’s stomach rumble.  Viewers could find her on the Food Network, read her multiple cookbooks, and buy her custom line of cooking materials.  Paula Deen was the lovable old lady in the kitchen that everyone in America could recognize and it seemed as if she was at the pinnacle in her career.  This was all until controversy surrounded Deen; she agreed to endorse a diabetes drug just as her diagnose for the disease surfaced, a sexual assault lawsuit has also been brought to attention regarding her and her brother, and arguably the biggest controversy; multiple accounts of her using racial slurs towards African Americans and an alleged video of her using the n word surfacing.  Paula Deen and her organization were then faced with a choice on how to address the situation and how to keep her career from completely deteriorating.  They came forth in June of 2013 and admitted that Deen had indeed made the racist comments in the workplace and also made other racial comments and jokes outside of the workplace.

            Paula Deen and her organization showed use of the Social Exchange Theory when deciding to come out with her public apology. The Social Exchange Theory states that individuals and groups choose strategies based on perceived rewards and costs.  With this in mind, she realized that the short run costs loss of fans and endorsements outweighed the potential costs she could face if she didn’t address the public about her mistake.  Not only would she lose the endorsements and contracts, she would lose the trust of her very devoted fan base.  As expected, the initial effect on the public and her fans was generally negative.

But as the Social Exchange Theory states, Deen also benefited from her public apology.  Some of her die-hard fans publically came to her aid and lashed out against corporations that had revoked their endorsements with Deen.

On top of fan support, some corporations reached out in support, her Ballantine Books cookbook sales have skyrocketing pre-orders, Universal Furniture has continued their “Paula Deen Home” line, Springer Mountain Farms which sells Paula Deen approved chicken came out and said they support her and will continue her line of poultry, Metro Cooking Dallas Show also came out with their support and plans to continue to have Deen appear on show, and maybe the most profitable since her decision to admit to her comments is that Alice Travel, a Paula Deen cruise supplier, has had such an amazing response from Paula Deen fans that they have planned out two cruises over 2014 instead of the original one cruise a year.  Although it was a very tough decision for Paula Deen and her organization to make I believe that through the Social Exchange Theory they did the best possible option.

Other Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/jesse-jackson-paula-deen_n_3506218.html