Digital Public Relations Mitigation Strategies in Facing the Phenomenon of Cancel Culture and Netizen Boycotts: A Literature Study on Affected Companies

Abstract

The thing about cancel culture and people boycotting things online has changed a lot. It used to be something people talked about but now it can really hurt companies reputations and finances on the internet. The usual ways that companies handle relations are often not good enough to stop a crisis from getting worse when a lot of people are upset and social media is involved. This research is trying to figure out what works and what does not work when it comes to using public relations to mitigate crises. We looked at a lot of research papers from 2021 to 2026 from databases like Scopus, Web of Science and Sinta. What we found out is that the old ways of apologizing and trying to fix things are not working anymore. Companies need to be more proactive and use strategies to defend themselves. There are three things that companies can do use artificial intelligence to listen to what people are saying online and catch problems early be totally honest and authentic when communicating with people and actually do something to make things right not just say sorry. Companies need to make sure their values are in line with what the public thinks is right than just trying to look good.