1. Is It Live or Is It Recorded,
Ashlee?
-TheAshlee Simpson Case Study
Yuming Huang

2. Ashlee’s 2004
• Released her 1st album
• First-week sales: 398,000
• Triple-platinum album
• Won New Female Artist of 2004
• SNL incident

3. What happened?
• Who: Ashlee Simpson
• When: October 23, 2004
• Where: Saturday Night Live
• What: lip-sync
• How: her vocal came out when mic on her waist
• Response: drummer and band’s fault; acid reflux

4. Immediate Advise
• Take the responsibility
-rather than blaming her band
-core issue is lip-sync
• Be honest and open
- explain the reasons why it happened

5. What’s next?
Framing Theory/ Agenda Setting
• We cannot change the reality;
• However, we can shape views and discussions through
selective choice of truth, theme, or words;
• Public Relations has a huge influence in “framing” how the
media will discuss a product, person, event, etc.;
• Framing creates the context in which the discussion occurs.
• The media sets the agenda and creates a perception of reality.

6. Specific Steps
• “Framing” the incident as miscue
- rather than lip-sync
• Take the responsibility and be open
- transfer publics’ attentions away from the incident
• Participate other programs
- provide new content and topics for discussion
- fully present Ashlee to build her image and reputation

7. What we learned?
When written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is
composed of two characters. One represents
danger and the other represents opportunity.
- John F. Kennedy

8. Always seek opportunity in crisis
Thank you!