Videos for Chapter 7: Persuasive Messages

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Giovanni Ribisi (Seth) in the movie Boiler Room sells stock to an unsuspecting buyer. Useful to show examples of logos, pathos, and ethos. Download the handout and possible answers.

Taco Bell CEO responds to criticism of the company's taco meat. Useful to discuss persuasion to restore image. Read more here. Here are two ads that accompanied the campaign.

Domino's president responds to the YouTube video posted by two employees. Useful to discuss persuasion to restore image. Watch an overview of the story and employee video. 

AOL doesn't allow a customer to cancel his account. Here is AOL's apology/response. What is interesting about the story is that it isn't the first time AOL was cited for failing to cancel accounts on request.

British Petrolum's commercial after the oil spill, rated by the public. Useful to show the public's reaction to the ad. Read more here.

FedEx senior VP apologizes for the viral video of a PC monitor tossed over a fence.

Royal Caribbean reassures customers after the Costa Concordia accident.

Apple CEO Tim Cook responds to tax criticism.

Carnival Cruise CEO holds a news conference to explain the Triumph ship situation.

The NRA's press conference after the Newtown, CT, school shooting, 2013. Read more here. 

GM CEO Mary Barra answers tough questions about product safety, 2014.

GM CEO Mary Barra's video message to employees, 2014.

McDonald's "Our Food, Your Questions" campaign, 2014.

Procter & Gamble's "Like a Girl" video, 2014.

Bill Cosby's discussion with AP about sexual assault allegations, 2014.

Dr. Oz's video response to criticism about his TV show and product promotion.

UK Cancer Research shows clever commercial about failing to detect cancer lumps, 2015.

Ober's false-cause fallacy, 2015.

Conan O'Brien pokes fun at Taco Bell (paid commercial), 2015.

JetBlue's video about plane etiquette, 2015.

Go to videos for Chapter 8.

Videos for Chapter 1: Understanding Business Communication

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Mylan CEO defends 400% drug price hike.

Princess Cruises CEO apologizes for illegal dumping.

Stanford University study about multitasking. Useful to discuss noise and distractions that interfere with communication.

Scene from the movie Up in the Air where Natalie Keener and Ryan Bingham debate using videoconferencing to communicate layoffs: 20:07 – 25:48. (I can send the clip by email; it's too large to post here.)

"Flair" scene (13) from the movie Office Space (download).  Useful to discuss barriers to communication.  Referenced in Exercise 5.

Aggressive customer service at Aggresshop.

Video from the Deloitte Film Festival (example of using social media internally).

Kevin Smith discusses the "too fat to fly" incident on Southwest Airlines (example of using social networking to connect with customers).

Analyst from Southwest Airlines discusses the company's social media strategy.

Brian Williams interview with Matt Lauer about his questionable NBC reporting, 2105.

Sepp Blatter resigns from FIFA after corruption scandal, 2015.

Hillary Clinton discusses the controversy over her personal emails, 2015.

Go to videos for Chapter 2.

Videos for Chapter 8: Bad-News Messages

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Opening scene from the movie Up in the Air (download). Useful to demonstrate the challenges of communicating bad news (layoffs).  Beware of obscene language.

Another scene from Up in the Air: Ryan Bingham discusses his philosophy of communicating layoffs (download).

Geico commercial demonstrating a deceptive buffer.

Videos from the "United Breaks Guitars" incident, United Airlines' refusal to pay for a broken guitar and the disgruntled passenger's response: 

News conference about Ebola in NYC, 2014.

Virgin Galactic news conference about the SpaceShip Two crash, 2014.

A French investigator discusses the Germanwings flight crash in a news conference, 2015.

AirAsia CEO apologizes to families of lost flight, 2015.

Blue Bell Creameries CEO announces layoff decision after recall, 2015.

Go to videos for Chapter 9.

Videos for Chapter 2: Intercultural and Team Communication

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Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's altercation with a driver, 2017.

Pepsi's Commercial starring Kendall Jenner, 2017.

Hockey player Ryan Getzlaf apologizes for muttering a offensive remark, 2017

Toyota recalls: 

President Obama's gaffe about the Special Olympics on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Read more about the situation here.

Scene from the movie Up in the Air about stereotyping.

Simple explanation of a wiki.

Overview and tutorial of the wiki Wiggio (wiggio.com).

Seven hotel CEOs talk about the importance of diversity.

Chef and TV personality Paula Deen's apology video. Read more about the situation here.

NBA Don Sterling's interview with Anderson Cooper about racial slurs, 2014.

Jonah Hill's apology for a homophobic slur, 2014.

Ferguson, MO, police chief apologizes to the family of Michael Brown, 2014.

Google video about unconscious bias, 2014.

Rachel Dolezal, president of Spokane, WA, NAACP chapter, talks about her racial identity, 2015.

Go to videos for Chapter 3.

About / Contact

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AN 5-15-14 2 About BizCom in the News

I started this blog in 2010 because I was spending a lot of time searching for company examples to bring into my classes and wanted to make it easier for other business communication instructors. Students are more engaged and see the relevance of what we teach with real messages from real companies in real time.

 

About Amy Newman

Since 2004, Amy Newman has been a senior lecturer at Cornell University, College of Business, in the School in Hotel Administration. Prior to her academic experience, Amy worked as an internal manager and external consultant in major corporations, such as Canon, Reuters, Scholastic, and The New York Times. At Cornell, she teaches courses in business writing, persuasive written and oral communication, and corporate communication, including crisis communication. Amy teaches both undergraduate and graduate students at Cornell.

Amy is author of Business Communication, In Person, In Print, Online, 10e, with Cengage Learning. Since 2010, she has maintained a blog, BizCom in the News, to chronicle stories and company examples for instructors to use in their classes. Amy has developed online content in the form of multimedia simulations, video screen captures, self-assessments, and video-based assignments. She also has developed tools for students and industry managers, for example, "How to Feel Confident for a Presentation," to help people manage speech anxiety, and "Communication Planning: A Template for Organizational Change."

Amy has a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in Human Development and Family Studies and a master's degree in Human Resources Management from Milano, The New School for Management and Urban Policy in New York City. She is a director-at-large for the Association for Business Communication, for which she is an annual presenter. In 2015, she won the organization's Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher-Scholar Award. In addition, she has won six faculty teaching awards since joining Cornell.

Faculty Page at Cornell

Email: amynewman@cornell.edu