In order to answer the following questions, you will need to refer to recent newspaper articles and ads (which can be sourced online), podcasts, blogs, social media posts or other online material – you should also refer to the Public Relations material (including PR models) that was covered in class and any other classwork that you deem to be suitable.

Specifically, you need to answer the following questions:

1. How and why have companies adjusted their traditional and online use of marketing communications tools (i.e. advertising, PR, sales promotions, sponsorship, and direct marketing) because of the Covid-19 pandemic?

2. Showing evidence, who are the key stakeholders that received information about the Covid-19 pandemic, and who were the key disseminators of information?

3. How well did the government/HSE manage the crisis?

a. Could or should they have been more proactive: were they influenced by the approach adopted by other countries?

b. Did the chaos theory prevail?

4. How truthful and ethical was the distribution of information through online models of communication versus offline models of communication (give examples to assist your answer)? Specifically

a. Through traditional media channels

b. Through digital media channels

c. Were there ethical problems with any of the communications to the public: why?