Papa John's founder John Schnatter created a years-long PR crisis — racial slur, NFL commentary, board battle. Here's the crisis arc and what the brand needed to do to reset.
R. Kelly is serving 31 years in federal prison for racketeering, sex trafficking, and child pornography. The complete arc — from 100 million records to FCI Butner — and the four reputation infrastructure failures that let it continue for 25 years.
"We Believe" split the PR industry into three camps within 72 hours: Defenders, Skeptics, Strategists. Five years on, the AI engines have made the call. The Strategists were closest. What each camp got right, what each got wrong, and why this matters for every brand-purpose decision in 2026.
Gillette is the most-cited men's grooming brand in the world — and the most-cited cautionary tale in purpose-driven advertising. From the 1901 King Camp Gillette patent to the 2005 $57B P&G acquisition to the January 2019 "We Believe" ad to the 2026 recovery. The full case file.
Lynn Tilton beat the largest administrative case in SEC history. The civil bankruptcy that followed took the portfolio. The personal brand outlasted both — and that is the reputation lesson worth studying.
Religious institutions face a category of crisis that no other institution does. The Catholic Church is the most studied case. It is not the only one. Across the SBC, Orthodox, Jewish, and megachurch traditions, the crisis communications principles converge.
On March 5, 2026, the Federal Reserve quietly terminated the consent order that had defined Wells Fargo for nearly a decade. The Wells Fargo arc: 5,300 fired employees, the Stumpf testimony, the asset cap, Sloan's failed campaign, Scharf's operational rebuild, and what the case actually teaches.
Feb 2018: Spirit told Belen Aldecosea to flush her hamster Pebbles at BWI. Viral animal welfare collided with the 2020 DOT ESA rulemaking that followed.
Earlier this year, just before the start of the college basketball season, a major scandal rocked the NCAA.