Strategies & Tactics : SARS Case Study

In 2003, the SARS virus swept across the world, affecting global economies and caused severe social panic with regards to the transmission of the flu-virus. Singapore was not spared from the epidemic. In actuality, Singapore was commended and praised for its efforts for containing the virus quickly with contingency actions and plans. It is without a doubt that it will not be possible with good public relations between the government, represented by the Ministry of Health and the general public.

As Dr. Mark Chong has pointed out, the PR tactics for the SARS incident in Singapore was to establish a strong social trust between the general public itself and government institutions like TTSH (Tan Tock Seng Hospital) and MoH (Ministry of Health). He developed 6 main keywords which essentially sums up the tactics used by the government to build this bond with the public: competence, care, fairness, openness, participation. This primary strategy derived from its policy of transparency compared to China which covered the incident from its actual severity.

Its tactics include to close down nearly all schools for a week as an quarantine act to reduce social proximity within schools to contain the SARS virus from children. The Ministry of Health also took extra efforts to inform the public about the nature of the virus through a series of campaigns and ads to raise awareness and public hygiene. This also indirectly created public trust and were manifested from the public statements made to the press. The Ministry also practised a "one-voice" policy to avoid unnecessary speculations and rumours; all official word about the SARS virus has to go through the government to be published in newspapers.

To enhance their stand on trust-building, none of their statements included elements of skepticism which could erode trust between government and public. What the government did in this situation was primarily to assess its weakness that the SARS virus was generally unknown with little facts about it. It developed a tactic to turn its weakness into strength by building social trust to eliminate social panic and fear and maintain stability.

What is interesting is that the government was able to learn from China's mistakes to construct feasible PR tactics and strategies. From this case study, one can learn that PR does not exist solely through a series of brainstorming on how to tackle the hearts and minds of the public but also through other organisations and incidents to use it as a pointer to create a feasible and successful PR plan.