I don't know if everyone follows sports but I guarantee that you are all familiar with Martina Hingis, an all-star tennis pro. Hingis is a five-time Grand Slam champion and former Wimbeldon winner. BBC News has reported that the athlete tested positive for cocaine at this year's Wimbledon. Hingis denies ever taking drugs and has decided to retire from tennis because she does not want to spend the rest of her career fighting with anti-doping authorities. Read more about Martina's case here
Let's take a look at this case according to the public relations process of Guth and Marsh.
Research: The research that has taken place in this case had been conducted by Hingis and her attorney. Although not mentioned in the article, one can only hope that Hingis' attorney or manager did some research on the International Doping Tests and Management (the company that conducts and processes the drugs tests) in order to confirm the company's credibility. Most likely Hingis and anyone advising her in this situation would have looked back on other cases of athletes testing positive for drugs and evaluated how they handled their cases.
Planning: In this particular case Hingis probably had been given advice from lawyers and public relations practitioners on how to handle the results of her drug test but the planning ultimately was Martina's personal decision. She planned to confront the issue head on by issuing a statement and retiring from tennis all together.
Communication: In order to communicate her plan to the public Hingis issued a personal statement. In her statement Hingis claimed after receiving the first round of positive results she took the advice of family and management and took a hair test, which turned out to be negative. An attorney was then hired and advised Hingis that fighting a drug test could take years. Hingis then decided to retire from the game and left fans and audiences with this concluding remark "Therefore, there is only one more thing to do - to thank all of you for your many years of goodwill, and also yo assure you: I have never taken drugs."
Evaluation: In my opinion, I find Martina's decision to be sudden and not very well planned out. If the tennis pro was in fact telling the truth that she has never taken drugs and her heart was still in the game, why retire all together. However, one can only assume that somewhere along the line she had done drugs, hence the positive results. If this was the case public relations practitioners did a good job of preserving her image. Her statement provides insight as to why she didn't want to spend the rest of her career in a courtroom when it should be on the court.
This case provides us with good public relations tactics regarding quite a hot button issue, professional athletes and the use of illegal drugs. The placement of these substances in various cases can make for one heck of a job for public relations practitioners. Usually honesty is the number one priority in PR but often times athletes and celebrities lie through their teeth about their use of illegal substances. When taking this into consideration perhaps the public relations practitioners did a really good job in handling the case of Martina Hingis. She bowed out of the league gracefully to avoid more conflict and accusations but assured audiences she had never done drugs.
6 comments:
Why isn't her whole second hair drug test publicized more? Wouldn't it have been a good PR idea for her to back up her statement that she has never done drugs with some proof of that? Right now it all seems kinda fishy to me. Why would a 27 year old retire because they don't want to deal with litigation?!? If she is innocent, than she will get off! Bottom line.
I am currently reading a book on Anti-Doping and this kind of decision is very rare. She probably chose to end her career so quickly because she was doing cocaine, or maybe drugs that are even worse. The sanctions placed on athletes that test positive for doping are very harsh and my guess is that she didn't want to deal with that. If she did test positive, she could risk having ALL those medals stripped.
Kim, thanks for the case and for your insights. I have to admit, when I scanned the news about the Hingis case earlier this week I came away with the conclusion that she was guilty as charged. Like others, I didn't read deeply enough to see that a hair test was negative for drugs. This shows you how powerful (and biased) headlines and leads of news reports can be. The sensational side of the story (drugs and quitting) leads while the balance is buried in the story.
You also raised some interesting points about what must have gone on among Hingis, her family, her agents, her lawyers, her sponsors, etc. ... more than meets the eye, obviously. My take on this is that the results of the Floyd Landis (Tour d'France cycling champ) case may have influenced her decision somewhat. Like Hingis, Landis was accused, he presented evidence that seemed to vindicate him, only to have the original accusation upheld. After months of legal wrangling, it looks like he will end up having his yellow jersey stripped.
It reads to me like Hingis doesn't want to have her character and her family dragged through this for months or even years. She's at the end of her best competitive years. Maybe she is just going out on her terms and letting her public judge who is right when it comes to the tests. Maybe not a bad decision after all ... at least in terms of character. Financially, though, I'm sure she will lose millions in sponsorships. Oh well, what's another few million? She made a gutsy call ... and I liked her personal statement.
Thanks for sharing this, Kim.
Mark
I agree with Dan and Johanna, it seems very strange that a young athlete who claims that the drug charges are false would retire so quickly. It is hard to believe that she is not using drugs because I would think that someone that talented wouldn't want to give up so quickly. There must be some underlying issue here that helped add to her decision to retire.
I'll have to agree with Kimmie here, and everyone else for that matter. Why would a young athlete such as Martina throw in the towel after showing positive on a drug test?.. If she's NOT taking drugs?? I'd imagine drugs tests are hard to disprove, but if Martina was in fact drug-free, there would have been a way around this. Especially if her career was on the line. This leads me to believe she was using drugs, and did not want to go through the headache of press conferences and such, with a guilty conscience on her shoulders.
If this is the case, her publicity team did the right thing in pulling her out. It's a shame that her skills and talents are gone down the drain due to irresponsible drug use, but it's better to pull her out now before getting deeper into one lie after the next.
I agree with these comments. Although she is towards the end of her career, retiring and avoiding the issue is not great PR. If she wanted to retire, she could still fight the accusations for her fans sake. Think of people who look up to her. Now they are all left wondering if she did or did not use cocaine or other drugs. I think it was a move that shows guilt. Even though one test came up negative, she could still be using, as one test came up positive. I would want to vindicate myself here, and I think bowing out altogether is a bad choice.
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