Beyond the Spin: What Our Brand Is Crisis Reveals About Power and Perception

Ann Dowd on the left, Sandra Bullock in the center, and Reynaldo Pacheco on the right capture the truth of Our Brand Is Crisis: in politics, every moment can be turned into a story.

“How Important is Honesty?” This is one of the questions asked in the opening scene of the 2015 film ‘Our Brand Is Crisis.’ The film is an exciting theatrical glimpse into the fast-paced and cut-throat world of persuasion, reputation management, and strategic communication. The film effortlessly highlights the ethical dilemmas inherent in PR, where the line between persuasion and manipulation can often blur. The story follows Jane Bodine,  nicknamed ‘Calamity Jane, ’ a seasoned but ethically bankrupt PR strategist, as she comes out of retirement hoping to rebuild her ruined reputation as a PR strategist by campaigning for an unpopular Bolivian presidential candidate, Castillo, into an electable figure.

Throughout the film, Bodine showcases the principle on which P.R. rests, which is eloquently put by Bodine in the first few minutes of the film after being asked the opening question of this essay, “Truth is relative in politics. The truth is what I tell the electorate the truth is.” Starting the film with this dialogue is powerful because it, in a few words, illustrates the mission of P.R professionals—to highlight the various truths that exist in a singular story, product, company, and person, and that our mission is to identify the truth that most effectively helps in communicating the truth we want our audience to see. 

This skillfully showcased the most striking lesson from the film— which is how effective strategic framing can be in influencing public perception despite already having established feelings. Initially, when conducting the focus groups to determine Castillo’s public appeal, Bodine identified that he is deeply untrusted and disliked due to his arrogance and lack of empathy, evident in his previous actions as the former president of Bolivia and his rhetoric. 

After a physical altercation Castillo is involved in with a voter, after an unsatisfactory debate, Bodine, now with all the knowledge about her client, begins to explain her strategy to her team and how they are going to market Castillo to the people.

In the midst of a disagreement with her team on whether or not to issue a public apology about the incident, Bodine states, “You don’t change the man to fit the narrative; you change the narrative to fit the man.” Urging the team not to draft an apology but rather to use this incident to lean into the various things that make him an undesirable candidate, stating, “A man’s strengths fall from the same well as his weaknesses.”

This is brilliant because Bodine recognizes that it is futile to change the persona, as focus groups proved they did not believe it when they did. Instead of attempting to change his personality, she rebrands his negative character traits to desirable traits, Bodine taking inspiration from the Daisy ad strategy used in Lyndon B. Johnson’s campaign, which suggested that electing his opponent would lead to nuclear destruction. Jane states, “When voters are looking for hope, they go for the new candidate. But when they’re scared, they look for a wartime leader of a “wartime leader,” someone strong, experienced, confident, not arrogant, and capable of going with the new fear-based messaging that “Bolivia is in Crisis.” This strategy mirrors eerily similar to President Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, which painted him as a champion of the conservative who is unwilling to back down in the face of his curated national crisis of morality and white American erasure. 

Despite the effectiveness of Jane’s strategy, this approach blatantly goes against the PRSA Code of Ethics principles, such as Honesty, Fairness, and the Free Flow of Information. Bodines lack of personal ethical codes is glaring when she ignores the ethical implications of her actions when she orchestrates a smear campaign against Castillo’s opponent, Rivera, by circulating a misleading photograph linking him to a Nazi sympathizer. Bodines’s deliberate manipulation of information is a disclosure of information violation, as it deceives the public rather than enabling informed decision-making.

Additionally, Bodine’s negative PR tactics fall under the assertive approach, which corporations and political entities often use to dominate voter influence. Jane also employs consequentialist ethics, which judge actions by their outcomes rather than their moral implications. As a result, her strategy to manipulate the public is justified by the ultimate goal, which is winning the election. Contrastingly, a virtue ethics approach, which emphasizes integrity and moral character, argues that the ends should be as ethical as the means. The consequence of Castillo winning the presidency is his immediate betrayal of campaign promises to the people of Bolivia, highlighting the long-term implications of prioritizing deception over transparency, which does not justify the unethical means.

If I were the lead PR strategist for Castillo’s presidential campaign, I would prioritize ethical persuasion over manipulation because of his already fractured public image. Deception can only serve to further insure his loss. Making transparent messaging, fair competition, and audience trust, which are all principles outlined in the PRSA Code of Ethics, would only serve to benefit the campaign and Catillo’s public image, no matter the outcome. Simply reframing Castillo’s weaknesses into opportunities for improvement, rather than creating a false crisis narrative, would serve our client and the public as it would be an honest angle of persuasion toward the public.

Instead of presenting Bolivia’s election as a crisis scenario, I would highlight Castillo’s experience as a former president as a strength and position him as a candidate willing to acknowledge and work on his shortcomings. The campaign would pivot from fear-based messaging to an experienced leadership narrative, ensuring that the public is making informed decisions based on reality, not fear.

Rather than discrediting Rivera with misleading information, I would ensure that our campaign leverages the other candidate’s inexperience and drives home the facts that a country’s socioeconomic problems cannot be fixed in a year or four and certainly not by inexperience. To position Castillo as a man who has now made the mistakes and knows what goes into running a country can hit the ground running to create solutions to the most pressing matters. The PRSA’s Fairness principle states that PR professionals should respect competition and avoid actions that undermine public trust. Engaging in fact-based issue advocacy rather than personal attacks would maintain credibility and public confidence in Castillo’s campaign.

When Castillo retaliates against a protester, Jane’s approach is favorable. It is unorthodox, but it still follows the ethical approach. Castillo acknowledged his reaction, explained his frustration, and appealed to the human instinct of defending oneself. This approach aligns with responsive PR strategies, similar to how Chipotle handled its food & safety crisis with E. coli, norovirus, and salmonella outbreaks in their chains by immediately pulling unsafe products and issuing public statements revealing the outbreak and paying their fines. This prioritized consumer trust rather than concealing the issue, which can strengthen public morale toward the company.

Finally, instead of campaigning just for workers and championing their struggles, I would have created stops in the campaign trail publicized by the media, where the Bolivian youth have direct conversations where they are able to speak on the ideas, using Edwards brothers as the first few students on the campaign trail to have this publicized conversation, to build my engagement with young viewers, and establish the fatherly, persona without resorting to the emotional manipulation that Bodine resorted to in the film on the talkshow.

A notable aspect of the film is how they emphasize that research is the crowning jewel of this profession and is the only way to build an effective narrative. Bodine is portrayed initially as being unhelpful when arriving in Bolivia. However, we see that her lack of participation was to closely observe her client. Her ability to identify that Edward was the key to getting a glimpse into understanding the public and the nuances that she and her team were going to build the campaign around, and finally, most essential is understanding your competitors. Her long history with Candy further contributed to eroding her ethical responsibilities.

However, it helped her to be able to understand how they might cripple her campaign and thus was able to anticipate their strategy at times, which left he prepared for it. 

But, most masterful was understanding to use her own public persona that Mr.Candy knew to her advantage. She used the clouded judgment of Mr. Candy boasting about his believed win against Bodine’s candidate to control the narrative by giving Mr. Candy a quote she hoped he would pass on to his candidate, a quote by the former Nazi propaganda minister, which she misled him to believe was a quote came from another notable figure. Mr. Candy’s candidate used this quote in his debate which then tied him back to the Nazi photos that Bodine and her team had planted previously. This allowed her team to control the narrative by posing the question to the public go about why Riviera had quoted a Nazi official when he said that he was never a part of the Nazis. This allowed her to create a cloud of doubt amongst voters and change the perception, even if the quote bore some merit, who they came from, what that person represented, and how that made the voters feel ultimately changed how we felt about that candidate. This is another perfect example of shifting the narrative to suit your desired truth.

One of the most compelling moments in the film is when Edward, a young supporter and campaign volunteer of Castillo, confronts Jane about the candidate’s post-election betrayal. Edward states, “But he promised.” Jane coldly responds, “Yeah, he did. He lied. That’s the world. That’s politics.” This moment is a call back to the first few questions of the film “How Important is Honesty?” the ethical dilemma at the heart of the film ‘Does winning justify any means?’ The film implies that PR strategists, like Bodine and her team, as well as Mr. Candy, are detached and inconsiderate of the consequences of their tactics. However, ethical PR professionals are obligated to recognize the responsibility beyond a campaign cycle. 

This thought-provoking representation of the PR industry and PR professionals does a lot to heighten public skepticism toward the industry, as it reinforces the stereotype that PR is rooted in deception. However, ethical PR practices and professionals do involve responsible advocacy, transparent messaging, and respect for public trust, ensuring that communication serves both the client and the public good. PR professionals often need to confront similar ethical and moral dilemmas that lawyers face, who often have to decide whether to represent clients that pose ethical values that contradict the PR professional’s own ethical code and the professional PRSA code of ethics. It’s just as important that the narrative we create on behalf of the clients we represent is for the clients and the public’s benefit.

The film almost stands as a cautionary tale about the power and ethical risks of PR. Jane Bodine’s manipulative tactics, while effective, show the dangers of fear-based messaging, misinformation, and prioritizing professional and personal gain over truth, which is unethical and can have a profound negative impact. The film’s crowning jewel of the film is that it helps us reflect on why PR ethics matter, as Bodine shows us the real-world implications of when a PR professional abandons honesty and transparency, they contribute to the erosion of public trust in media, politics, and communication.

As a future PR professional, I hope to be a part of creating narratives that center and emphasize truth and ethical persuasion. To foster the rapid ethical reverse of the rapid decline in audience trust and positive engagement. By adhering to the PRSA Code of Ethics of fairness, honesty, and responsible communication principles, PR can be a force for ethical storytelling rather than manipulation to shape narratives that are both persuasive and impactful. ‘Our Brand Is Crisis’ is a reminder that PR’s power lies not just in shaping perception but in playing a part in shaping the world responsibly and ethically.