Treachery by any Other Name

The battle to protect a corporation's image is most fierce during a crisis situation. This article examines one such crisis situation—Toshiba's selling of advanced submarine propeller technology to the Soviet Union. Ware and Linkugel's concept of apologia is used to provide rhetorical insights into Toshiba's handling of the crisis. It is argued that public relations in an image crisis situation should be viewed as a battle for reidentification with the public.