Apologies of the Rich and Famous

Abstract

In recent years, U.S. and other Western media have inundated the public with celebrity apologies. The public (measured via representative opinion polls) then expresses clear ideas about who deserves forgiveness. Is forgiveness highly individualized or tied to broader social, cultural, and cognitive factors? To answer this question, we analyzed 183 celebrity apologies offered between October 1, 2000, and October 1, 2012. Results are twofold and based in both cultural and social psychological perspectives. First, we found that public forgiveness is systematically tied to discursive characteristics of apologies—particularly sequential structures. Certain sequences appear to cognitively prime the public, creating associative links to established cultural scripts of atonement and rendering some apologies more successful than others. Second, public forgiveness is contingent on broader patterns of social interaction. Like many persuasive messages, successful apologies exist as ordered cultural moments steeped in characteristics of the social relations that bind offenders, victims, and a broader audience of onlookers.

Narratives of a Dying Woman: Contentious Meaning at the End of Life

“…In this paper, I examined a story where private drama, public debate, political dynamics, ideological battle, juridical reason, medical knowledge, and the very concepts of life and death played a role in the fate of a woman who spent almost half of her life in a vegetative state. I attempted to capture the discursive field around a subject whose meaning attracted a great deal of contestation and whose characteristics evoked those at the center of other sequence analyses (Adorjan 2010;Altheide 2002;Cerulo 1998Cerulo , 2000Cerulo and Ruane 2014;DeGloma 2009DeGloma , 2010Muschert 2009;Muschert and Carr 2006;Muschert and Janssen 2012;Wallace 2008). This allowed engaging with cultural theory while trying to find a compromise in the ceaseless tension between context and structure.…”

“…Her work and subsequent relevant contributions (Cerulo 2000; Muschert 2007; Muschert and Carr 2006) examined a variety of topics, including public apologies (Cerulo and Ruane 2014), awakening narratives (DeGloma 2010), and use of fear (Altheide 2002). These studies, however, have not considered how actors with different positions in a field might compete to affirm their particular perspective.…”

'I am Deeply Sorry’: An Exploration of the Application of Apologetic Moves and Image Repair Strategies in the Celebrity Apology

“…Nicholas Tavuchis (as cited in Govier and Verwoerd, 2002) interprets the apology as a speech act through which a speaker expresses remorse to seek forgiveness. For the celebrity the apology is especially instrumental because it helps to restore his or her image, to re-establish ties to admirers, and to ensure continued economic success (Cerulo and Ruane, 2014). Knowledge of what constitutes an apology is crucial for any public figure hoping to save his or her reputation in the midst of a crisis.…”

“…Television programs report celebrity news daily, websites feature an endless stream of photos and information, and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter track the movements of public figures through their day (Cerulo and Ruane, 2014). With the ability to 'plug' into celebrity culture at any time or location, the stargazing public not only have an unprecedented amount of insight into the private lives of celebrities, but as producer-consumers of online content they also control the idea of celebrity (Burr, 2012).…”

Fandom, forgiveness and future support: YouTube apologies as crisis communication

“…Although there is value in monitoring social media comments (Coombs and Holladay, 2012;Edgerly et al, 2013;Siersdorfer et al, 2010;Thelwall, 2017), it's also important to recognize that the comments reflect the sentiment of the commenting public, and not the majority of the viewersthe noncommenting public. After Cerulo and Ruane (2014) analyzed 183 celebrity apologies using Benoit's (1995) typology of image restoration strategies, they concluded further research was needed, specifically a design that considered "the characteristics of those evaluating the apology" (p. 145) to gauge the impact of evaluators' social profiles, (e.g. similarities between the audience and the offenders and audience affinities for the offender).…”