RQ: What strategies did Paula Deen use to (re)establish her ethos after the scandal?
Perceived Intelligence
As Paula Deen is a long-established celebrity with an enormous fan base and many potential viewers, as well as partners she has credible and consistent relationships with, communication with them is the most crucial and foreclose factor to her. Modern communication is very multifaceted and available – internet, established and popular TV channels, PR-technologies, and advertising. Along with her proclamation in the court, she used all that instruments to beg for forgiveness from society. The choice of using all of these platforms, on which her relationship with audience is built, and using them all almost at the same time, is logical and smart. She may have lost slightly in sincerity in the eyes of the public, but sincerity is always ambiguous when expressed by famous people.
Virtuous Character
Deen has not been showing any virtuousness throughout her massive campaign. She has only been asking for forgiveness constantly, not always appropriately, sometimes a little aggressive, never leading it to real and fundamental actions. Concurrently, virtue is considered to be connected with decisive and prolific actions which display the positive aspects of character in a person. And Deen has not succeeded in that.
Goodwill
Though her aim was to utterly lessen the impact of the incident, Deen has not been delivering her message consecutively, sometimes allowing herself to make ambiguous statements and communicate negative emotions instead of trying to be as much benevolent as it was possible.
