Mjölken som surnade

Mjölken som surnade Denna studie ämnar undersöka hur en organisation kan kriskommunicera på det sociala mediet Twitter, under en förtroendekris. Det bondeägda kooperativet Arla går på knäna i den rådande mjölkkrisen, trots det har det uppdagats att delar av Arlas organisation haft en osund kostnadskultur. SVTs Uppdrag granskning sände den 3 februari 2016 sitt tredje reportage kring Arla, vilket försatte organisationen i en situation där deras förtroende stod på spel. För att besvara den kritik Arla fick utstå i reportaget valde de att twittra under tiden det avslöjande reportaget sändes. Genom en kvalitativ fallstudie av Arlas kriskommunikation på Twitter undersöks med hjälp av textanalys och retorisk analys vilka image restoration strategier och retoriska appellformer Arla använder i sin kriskommunikation, samt hur de presenteras i Twitters handlingsutrymme. Med hjälp av befintliga teorier och begrepp inom områdena kris, förtroendekris, kriskommunikation, image restoration theory, retoriska appellformerna och Twitter samt en abduktiv ansats har empirin kontextualiserats. Analysen visar att alla image restoration strategier och retoriska appellformer används, dock med varierande frekvens, då image restoration strategierna tillrättaläggande, bolstering och attack samt de retoriska appellformerna ethos och logos är de som främst syns i Arlas kommunikation. Utifrån em- pirin går det även att se hur strategierna och appellformerna i vissa fall såväl anpassas, förstärks och framhävs med hjälp av Twitters handlingsutrymme.The soured milk The purpose of this study is to examine how an organization can crisis communicate on the social media channel Twitter during a crisis of confidence. The farmer-owned cooperative Arla is having financial trouble as the milk crisis have put a lot of the former Arla owners out of business. But in some parts of the organization, an unhealthy cost culture has been detected. On February the 3rd 2016, SVT’s Uppdrag granskning aired their third reportage about Arla, which put the organization’s confidence at stake. As the show aired on Swedish television, Arla took it to Twitter to respond to the accusations. Through a qualitative case study Arla’s crisis communication on Twitter was examined with textual and rhetorical analysis to see which image restoration strategies and rhetorical appeals they used in their crisis communication and how they utilized the different func- tions Twitter offers. With the help of existing theories and concepts in the fields of crisis, crisis of confidence, crisis communication, image restoration theory, rhetorical appeals and Twitter, as well as an abductive approach, the empirics have been contextualized. The analysis shows that all of the different image restoration strategies, as well as all the rhetorical appeals, are being used in Arlas crisis communication, but some are being used more frequently than others. Corrective action, bolstering and attack are the image restoration strategies, along with the rhetorical appeals ethos and logos, that are frequently displayed in their communication. The empirics shows that in some cases the strategies and appeals are being customized, enhanced and emphasized by Twitter’s functions