Image

• read the narration column first
• then do the exercises

Reading list

You do not need to consult all these books. If you can find one in your local library, concentrate on that author.

• John Balmer, Revealing the Corporation: Perspectives on Identity, Image, Reputation and Corporate Branding, New York 2003
• Gareth Morgan, Images of Organization, New York 2006
• Anthony Lewis Martin, Crisis management: The effective use of image restoration strategies when an organization/individual is faced with a crisis, New York 2006

1a. Select two examples, one of a person who has - in your view - a ‘good’ public image and the other of a person who has a ‘bad’ image.

1b.Try to analyse each of these images, listing the various qualities or defects each has.

1c. Can you think of examples of people who have a ‘mixed’ image? Analyse those images.

narration

5. 1 What do we mean with ‘image’?

The ‘image’ of a person is his/her representation in a statue, painting or photograph. Here we use ‘image’ in a wider sense. It denotes the mental picture we have of a person or of an institution, the complex association of attitudes, habits and qualities we attribute to that person or institution.

Image came into being as a side-product of the complicated structure of our society. People know father and mother, husband, wife and children so well from direct contact that with regard to them there is no question of ‘image’. But there are so many others people do not know so intimately, with whom they enjoy only a passing contact or about whom they have only heard. Those people, like a pop star, or the Prime Minister or a famous sports person, will leave a superficial, general impression on our awareness. If the impression is taking some definite characteristics, we can speak of an ‘image’.

Napoleon, for instance, enjoyed the ‘image’ of being a fabulous general. Few people actually met him, but the stories regarding his military skills accumulated into a well-defined picture, an ‘image’ that Napoleon would never lose. Napolean was seen to be a good leader, a brilliant general, a champion for France. It was through this ‘image’ that Napoleon could so easily fill his army with thousands of volounteers in the famous ‘Hundred-Days’ after his escape from Elba.

It is the merit of modern business to have discovered how strong the influence of ‘image’ can be. German machines and engines have gradually acquired the public image of being solid and dependable. Every German firm is enjoying a great advantage on account of this, since people, when choosing between, let us say, a German and a Danish engine, will generally prefer to take the German one. It is not the qualities of the product in hand, but the ‘image’ which influences buyers and often proves decisive. This is all the more telling as few people realise that they are motivated by ‘image’. ‘Image’ has a subconscious influence that can be stronger than explicit arguments.

The science of advertising has proved this in many striking cases. A certain firm in Autralia produced transistor radios in the 1980's. In order to increase sales, the price of the transistors was bought down by 20%. Contrary to expectation, the sales went down. Investigation showed that good transistors had the ‘image’ of being expensive. A cheap transistor could not be good, people thought. When the firm increased the prices once more, the sales rose considerably.

Let us, from the outset, have a clear idea about the way ‘image’ functions on the borderline between the conscious and the subconscious. ‘Image’ gives people a kind of certainty about the nature and qualities of a person, an object or an institution which they often cannot put into words, but a certainty which affects them to a great extent. Another example may help.

To make things easy for busy housewives, some firms in Canada produced ready-made soups in tins which needed only to be mixed with water and heated. It was found that the product was not sold according to expectation. The reason proved to be very subtle. Most women had the ‘image’ of a housewife as a person who cares for the rest of the family. And care means work. The over-simple procedure of making soup by simply boiling it left them with a subconscious guilt complex. So the firm changed its sale pitch. When the procedure of preparing the soup had been presented in a more complicated fashion (add salt; stir the mixture for five minutes; etc.) the sales went up a good deal - a good example of how an ‘image’ can make people take decisions of which they do not grasp the full motivation.

Another example comes from India. It is a well-known fact that Christian schools and colleges have the image of being exemplary in discipline. It is one of the reasons why so many parents, even Hindus and Muslims, will gladly send their children to Christian schools. They do not know the present management of these school, but they go by the imagei which Christian schools, rightly, acquired in the course of time.

However in other parts of the country, notably in the North of India, the Christian Churches have the image of being composed almost entirely of persons belong to the lowest classes in society. The Christian Churches have, in those regions, acquired a ‘low caste image’ which will make it very difficult for high caste people to accept the Christian faith. This resistance by high caste people, it should be stressed, will often not be explicit or reflected on. It will work as a subconscious repugnance that will prevent them from ever to thinking seriously of joining a Christian community.

Having a ‘good’ image opens doors. Having a ‘bad’ image closes them.

5. 2 The five rules of image making

Government, business, the film industry and the media have studied how images are formed and how they can be changed. If we grasp the basic rules, we can improve our own image or the image of the organization we work for.

First rule. ‘Image’ comes about by what people see

People judge persons and things from what they see. It is remarkable how the visual perception of a thing can overshadow a lot of intellectual reasoning. Advertizing has proved this abundantly.

Customers who buy books presumably are in want of some kind of intellectual food. One would expect that their choice of book would be determined almost exclusively by the contents of the book. Not so. Advertising shows that the outward appearance of the book has a disproportionately great influence on the selection made by buyers. A colourful cover is almost a must. People get an ‘image’ of the book from what they see in its outward appearance and they buy accordingly.

Some forty years ago even giant firms did not pay much attention to this aspect of image making. Now they have learned by experience that people judge the products by what they see of the firm. The representatives of the firm have to be immaculately dressed. They have to drive in expensive cars. The offices and service centers that are open to public inspection have to present a picture of decency and cleanliness. The product itself must be handsome and must have an ‘efficient’ look.

Motor cars are, no doubt, also judged on the power of their engine; yet the customer will gather his or her first impression of the car’s value and reliability from the outward appearance of the chassis. It is the outward appearance on which people base their judgements.

A furniture industry in Germany once conducted an extensive enquiry to determine the factors on which people base their respect for persons they meet. The results indicated that 43 % of people put a person’s clothes as the most important single factor. In other words: people judge a person first and foremost by the dress they are wearing.

We do well to look at ourselves and at the organization we are representing, from the angle of an outsider, or even a casual passer-by. What do people see? What is it that will strike people? What is the first impression they will get from our dress, our letters and objects that catch their eye? We do well to think of the wrong image we may be projecting and the means to remedy this.

Study the three advertisements displayed in the column on the right, and analyse in each case how the five rules of image making can be found in them.

Second rule. ‘Image’ arises from association of thought

Associations are bonds that exist in our mind. They link sensations, perceptions, ideas and feelings to people and objects we remember.

Human memory works with associations. When we hear a certain tune, our mind jumps to a friend of ours who always hums this same tune. When someone cracks a joke ,our mind immediately recalls a similar joke we have heard on a previous occasion. The association of thought may be so deeply seated that we often cannot easily separate two different things in our memory.

The experiment of Pavlov shows a curious parallel example from the animal world. If dogs are given food for some days with the accompaniment of the ringing of a bell, the dogs start reacting to food - by the flow of saliva in their mouths - at the ringing of the bell alone. The association of the sound of the bell and the food is so strong that they produce a common reaction in the dog. All training of animals is based on such associations, and our own process of learning - even though on a higher level - similarly works on the basis of associations.

The image we have of a person or object depends to a large extent on the associations that spring to mind when we come into contact with it. Advertising has understood this very well and has gone to unbelievable lengths to secure desirable associations for certain products. A chemical drug for calming the nerves will be presented in the context of a person suffering badly from a headache and then recovering spectacularly through taking the drug. Note that the advertisements do not give the scientific grounds which should convince people of the drug’s potency. They rather try to make people associate the pain & subsequent relief with the drug. When the pain occurs, people will spontaneously think of the drug. Even if personally they have no experience of the drug’s effectiveness, they will readily advise their friends to make use of it. Advertising has then successfully ‘associated’ the drug with the kind of relief people want.

A clear example of an image that has come about by association is the negative image of atomic power. The scientific process that makes it possible to split atoms and so release immeasurable quantities of energy, has in itself no relation to the concept of war. It so happened that this invention was made use of for the first time in the Second World War with the horrible bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ever since that time, atomic power has been associated in many people’s minds with war and destruction. It has even acquired associations of ‘injustice’, ‘cruelty’ and ‘brute force’. Strictly speaking the associations are not well founded. The course of history may prove atomic power to be the greatest source of peaceful energy human beings have ever uncovered. It will be difficult, however, to change the image which atomic power has obtained through the association with war.

Association of thought can be cultivated. Once acquired it is difficult to change.

Third Rule. ‘Images’ crystalize around persons.

It seems to be a common pattern of human thinking to simplify complicated structures into concrete notions. And what is more concrete to us than a human person ? The phenomenon of ‘personification’ has thus become a very natural thing in every day life.

People in India have grown accustomed to think of their country- that vast continent with its sixteen states and its numerous populations - as Mother India. In other words they have personified India and it helps them to think about India in that way. Germans, on the other hand, call their country the fatherland.

Business has discovered that this tendency may be helpful to give people a sense of belonging. It has purposely introduced personifications to encourage people to think of a firm or a company in terms of a living person. To stay with Germany, a large firm itroduced a type of shoe which it wanted to present as the ideal shoe for difficult feet. The shoe was been called Dr. Schroder’s shoe. In all advertisements a photograph of Dr. Schroder is shown in which he advises people with difficult feet to try ‘his’ shoe. In actual fact thousands of employees are involved in producing the shoe, but the general public responds to the personal advice of a specific person, Dr. Schroder.

Firms that sell perfumes, like Calvin Klein, try to present their products in association with film stars, as in the advertisement for a flavour called ‘Eternity’ reproduced below.

In Women’s Magazines it is customary to leave have an agony column. The Magazine will print a photograph of an elderly lady, who may be called something like ‘Aunt Margaret’, and the reading public will be under the impression that they are submitting their difficulties to Aunt Margaret and that she is sending them a personal reply. In reality there may be a staff of ten efficient men or women who do all the answering, under the same blanket name ‘Aunt Margaret’. Most people would not dream of writing about their difficulties to a board of experts. The picture of ‘Aunt Margaret’ has helped them to personify the board and so it has become acceptable. In a way, the agony aunt herself, if the column is well done, will begin to personify the magazine itself.

Examine what personality is, or can be, associated with the image you want to cultivate.

Fourth rule. ‘Images’ thrive on names and slogans.

Repetition is the mother of learning. What we repeat often enough, will stick in the mind. That is why names and slogans contribute to shaping the mental images we have of persons and institutions.

Business advertising has registered great successes by the skilled manipulation of carefully chosen slogans and phrases. The tobacco industry has exploited this for years:

• “Smoke Chesterfield, the taste of New York”
• “Pyramid, your mild cigarette, Egypt’s gift to the world”

The fascinating thing about this kind of advertising is that we are aware of being brainwashed and yet we fall into the trap. The name or slogan will create an image in our mind which we will subconsciously accept as correct. If we were logical, we would reject all those proclaimed virtues and qualities of advertised products as ‘not having been proved’, since the claim to such qualities is made by the producers themselves.

But the opposite happens. We do not stop to reflect on the possible fallacy of the claim. We store in our minds the images which the advertisers want us to acquire.

For our own planning we should carefully consider what name we give to our organization, to a project or to an event. And we should adopt short slogans that express the substance of what we try to do.

Exercise 3

3a. Imagine you are establishing a ‘peace and reconciliation’ group among the students in your college. Its purpose is to bring adherents of major religions to come together and talk about their beliefs and practices.

3b.Since students may misinterpret your intentions, how will you foster a good image for your initiative? Make a detailed plan of action, with your reasons for the various steps you suggest.

3c. Check your programme against the five rules explained in the body of this lesson.

Fifth rule. The media can make or break an image.

The power of the media is enormous; not least in how it can influence people’s perceptions.

The modern mass media has given a new dimension to the creation of images. The press, the radio and television can change existing images in a short period. These channels of information are so powerful that all the secular agencies are continously trying to use and control them. Business, as well as politics, pour fabulous sums into calculated programmes for the improvement of a public image. Most daily papers and weeklies could not exist on what the readers pay for them. Advertising is their largest source of income. In the United States of America more than three percent of the national income is spent on advertizing alone. It is difficult to estimate the true power of these communication media. By their hold on the public, they control what people think.

Now we probably feel small and insignificant. We are only a small boat among the mighty ships that sail the ocean of the media. That may well be true. Yet, we ourselves and what we do may well be affected by the media. What can we do? More than you might think. For instance, you might create an event that will bring publicity, and hopefully good publicity, in the local press. You might report certain facts to the media that they could publish with a mention of your organization, and so on.

We have chances to foster the right image, both through our own channels and through the public channels. It requires awareness and the readiness to grab opportunities when they come our way.

In quite a few cases we may be rather helpless about what others say or write, but often the contrary is also true. A judicious word spoken at the right time, a well-planned article, a pointed letter to the editor can contribute much to the building up of the correct image.

In the field of mass communications it is not unusual for a particular person or organization to be suddenly placed in the limelight. What may have been purely a local affair, with no more than local implications, may overnight become a question that affects our image directly in the public eye.

Suppose we run a school for the blind, and a documentary appears on TV claiming that many schools for the blind are mismanaged? Although the documentary does not refer directly to our school, the criticism will somehow damage the image of all schools for the blind. What can we do?

We may be able to respond in some way or other. Perhaps through a letter to the editor of a newspaper. Or we may redress the damage by giving an interview in another programme. In the end, the whole episode may even work out to our advantage: if it makes our work known and the difficulties we face.

It is always difficult to assess the total value of what publicity has done to an image. There will be dangers to wide publicity, but there are also great providential opportunities in it.

5. 3 Afterthought

The great temptation in caring for one’s image lies in the field of hypocrisy.

If our image depends on what people see, on the association of thought created, on the persons with whom they identify the image, on external names and slogans, and on the judgement of the media, it is easy to acquire an attitude of ‘image making’ at any cost, even at the expense of the truth. This cannot be right and may rebound on us in the future.

While paying attention to the aspect of ‘image’ in what we say and what we do, and while planning diligently to promote the image we deserve, we should never lose the virtue of frankness and sincerity. Business & politics may contrive to artificially build up images for people and objects that do not respond to reality, and so deceive people. We should ensure that sincerity itself is an essential quality of the image we want. And the image of sincerity can be built up by sincerity alone.

Solving

Research

Path

Strategy

Image

Face to Face

Consulting