Progressive Insurance: Paying a Lawyer to Defend Your Sister’s Killer

Authors
Heatherman, R., Swanepoel, I., and O'Rourke, J. S. (Editor)
Region
North America
Topic
Strategy & General Management
Ethics & Social Justice
Marketing & Sales
Length
13 pages
Keywords
Brand Management
Conflict Management
customer communication
ethics
social media
Copyright Holder
Notre Dame
Student Price
$4.00
Target Audience
Graduate Students
Undergraduate Students

Progressive Insurance faced a widespread public relations crisis when Matt Fisher took to his personal Tumblr site to post a scathing account of his family’s experience with the company who insured his deceased sister. The blog entry went “viral” overnight, panning Progressive’s use of their attorney to seemingly assist in the defense of the driver who collided into his sister’s automobile, taking her life. This case examines the moral, economic, and legal views of business decision-making, as well as the social media consequences of a perceived imbalance between the three approaches. The question for Progressive Insurance is how to best mitigate the negative consequences of the current social media crisis and to avoid any recurrence. 

Learning Outcomes
  1. To highlight social media’s growing impact on a company’s reputation.
  2. To demonstrate the importance of including social media in a company’s communication strategy.
  3. To provide an example of the interplay of ethical, legal, and economic decision-making.
  4. To illustrate how a company’s financial performance is significantly impacted when customers start distrusting the company’s corporate values.