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Persuasion, Probity, and Paltering: The Prudential Crisis

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

In July, 1996, The Prudential Insurance Company agreed to pay a $35 million fine for misleading sales practices after a task force of insurance regulators from 11 states and the District of Columbia found that Prudential agents had engaged in misconduct. This article examines Prudential's actions, its response to the ethi cal crisis, and the ways in which the organization communicated its response to stakeholders. Many of Prudential's sins were rhetorical: Agents misrepresented some products to customers. Charges of misrepresenting products to clients stem back to problems with its securities division, then known as Prudential-Bache. Prudential is making amends to its customers who were harmed by egregious sales practices, but it may take the organization a long time to recover customer goodwill and the damage incurred to its reputation.

Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 36, No. 4, 319-334 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/002194369903600401


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