Image Repair – The Sport Journal

Deflategate: The Patriots’ Use of Image Repair

Authors: Greg G. Armfield, John McGuire, William Hoffman, Yejin Shin, Nickolas Eckhart, Bridget Acquah-Baidoo, and Josele Diaz

Corresponding Author:
John McGuire, PhD
310 Paul Miller, Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74075
john.mcguire@okstate.edu
405-744-8279

Greg G. Armfield (PhD, University of Missouri-Columbia) is an Associate Professor and basic course director in the Department of Communication Studies at New Mexico State University. John McGuire (PhD, University of Missouri-Columbia) is a Professor in the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University. William Hoffman, Yejin Shin, Nickolas Eckhart, Bridget Acquah-Baidoo, and Josele Diaz are graduate students at New Mexico State University.

Deflategate: The Patriots’ Use of Image Repair

ABSTRACT

This study examined the image repair strategies of key public figures involved in the National Football League’s (NFL) Deflategate scandal involving the New England Patriots leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, the sport’s most prestigious event. Researchers examined separate image repair efforts from the New England Patriots owner and head coach for the two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, which the New England Patriots won. Results show the New England Patriots favored denial tactics including simple and shifting blame, along with reducing offensiveness tactics of bolstering and transcendence. Findings and future extensions of Image Repair Theory are discussed.

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Peddling the Truth or Coasting Downhill? Lance Armstrong and the Use of Image Repair Strategies

Author: Greg G. Armfield, Ph. D.*
New Mexico State University
John McGuire, Ph. D,
Oklahoma State University

* Please direct all correspondence to the first author Greg G. Armfield (Ph.D. University of Missouri) Associate Professor, New Mexico State University, Department of Communication Studies, MSC 3W, P.O. Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001, (575) 646-4729, e-mail: Armfield@NMSU.edu

Abstract
This study examined image repair strategies of cyclist Lance Armstrong when he admitted in January 2013 to using performance enhancing drugs while winning seven consecutive Tour de France events, the sport’s most prestigious event. The findings show Armstrong favored mortification as a primary strategy while utilizing secondary image repair strategies including forms of reducing offensiveness (e.g., attacking one’s accusers, bolstering), denial (simple, shifting blame), and evading responsibility (defeasibility). Despite Armstrong’s efforts at image repair, researchers concluded it had failed as polling done after the interview found the public had turned against one of the most popular American athletes of the 2000s. The findings suggest that Armstrong’s prolonged evasion of the truth had undercut his ability to engage in successful image repair.
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