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Oatly and the Blackstone Crisis: A Rhetorical Analysis of Crisis Management on Instagram

This study looks into the crisis that arose when Oatly announced Blackstone as their new investors. With their new investors Oatly got a backlash with a lot of criticism for the new investment, which affected Oatlys image as a sustainable company. We examine how the crisis was handled on Instagram, both by analyzing Oatly's posts and their response to recipient ́s comments. The purpose of the study is to examine Oatlys crisis management on Instagram during the Blackstone crisis. With rethorics and Image Repair Theory as a theoretical framework and the rhetoric analysis model of Renberg as method, we have been able to examine what strategies Oatly used in their communication on Instagram during the Blackstone crisis. The results showed that Oatly used different strategies in their Instagram post and in their comments to try to handle the crisis, maintain consumers' trust and save the company's reputation. Our conclusion of the study summarizes the strategies Oatly uses in their communication and discusses the importance of companies using distinct strategies on social media during a crisis.