Benoit, W.L. (1995). Accounts, Excuses, and Apologies: A Theory of Image Restoration Strategies. Albany: State University of New York.

Benoit (1995) brings a rhetorical perspective to crisis communication by asserting that, similarly to individuals, organizations and institutions enact image restoration attempts when they perceive that their reputation/image/face comes under threat.
Face is an important commodity and, similarly to individuals, organizations want to be perceived by various stakeholders in a certain way. Hence, they engage in a communicative behavior whose final aim is "to reduce, redress, or avoid damage" to their face.

Drawing from Burke (1973), Rosenfield (1968) as well as from the work of Ware and Linkugel (1973) Benoit (1995) developed a taxonomy of defensive accounts that organizations can employ when struck by crises. The strategies fall under the umbrella of the Theory of Image Restoration and can be employed in a myriad of ways in order to increase their effectiveness. Additionally, their enactment in influenced by the cultural mores in which the discourse aimed at image renewal is performed.

The Theory of Image Restoration entails five main categories of strategies: denial, evading of responsibility, reducing offensiveness of the event, corrective action, and mortification.
When engaging in denial, an organization can totally deny that a crisis occurred (simple denial), but Benoit's (1995) definition of the term makes also allowances for instances in which an organization shifts the blame (scapegoating) and thus denies its implication in an unpleasant event.
Evading of responsibility refers to instances in which organizations will resort to the use of provocation (the act was induced by a third party and the organization only responded to an external provocation), defeasibility (the organization lacked the ability or the information to avert the crisis), accident, or good intentions (the initial intent was honorable, favorable etc, but the situation turned into a crisis). Additionally, representatives of an organization that face media when a crisis strikes can, depending on the situation, make use of strategies that aim at reducing the offensiveness of an event. Such strategies are: bolstering (emphasizing the good relationship that the company has been having with its stakeholders, its good deeds, etc), minimization (the magnitude of the crisis is not what the media describes), differentiation (the company differentiates itself from who/what caused the crisis--an employee, etc. and tries to show that the person/act is not representative of the whole organization), transcendence (the company places the crisis in a broader context so as to diffuse it and be able to appeal to higher values), attack the accuser (kategoria)and compensation (the organization helps the victims of the crisis, thus showing sympathy and proving itself to be responsible).

When the response provides information on what the company plans to do to avoid such crises from reoccurring, it makes use of what Benoit (1995) calls corrective action. Making use of the corrective action proves an important strategy of image restoration because it shows that the organization is responsible and in control of the situation. Hearit (2006) stresses the importance of corrective action asserting that the strategy can be used without fear of litigation, conversely to the early use of compensation that allows stakeholders to assume that the corporation is to be held accountable.
Finally, an organization can engage in mortification (full apology) which should be done after close consulting with the legal department. Specifically, press releases can be used as evidence in court, and hence should only be employed after more information about the crisis comes to the attention of the management.

Benoit (1995) applied the theory of image restoration to several crisis responses and critically analyzed their effectiveness. As he suggests (Benoit, 1995) the critical study should be coupled with empirical evidence (statistics, surveys,etc.) that are available and that demonstrate the impact of the crisis response on sales, stakeholders' perceptions, etc.
Thus, Benoit (1995) analyzed "The Cola Wars" and applied the theory of image restoration to the advertisements of Coca Cola and Pepsi that seemed to fire direct salvos at one another for a period of three years (1990,1991, 1992).
The analysis of the coke wars showed that Coke's advertisements were more effective in employing defensive strategies and also in attacking the accuser. Pepsi's ads, on the other hand, were replete with suspicion and innuendo and failed in strong arguments. Further on, empirical evidence is adduced consistent with the results generated from the critical analysis of the Coke wars.
Benoit (1995) also applied the typology of image restoration strategies to analyze the Exxon's defensive discourse after the former's reputation suffered substantially as a result of Valdez crisis. Thus, Exxon, made use of blame shifting after tests revealed that the captain of the Valdez had in fact been intoxicated. The strategy was risky because the captain was hired by Exxon and thus, the company could not successfully engage in scapegoating. Additionally, Exxon engaged in minimization and asserted that it did not expect major environmental damages after the spill. Unfortunately, the strategy proved ineffective because evidence that emerged in the media proved the contrary. Moreover, despite Exxon's discourse that stressed the velocity with which the company was present at the place of the spill media coverage showed the contrary: a three day delay.
Thus, Exxon's image restoration attempts are a proof that words without proper actions do not help reputation in times of crisis. Every image restoration strategy employed needs to be backed up with evidence.

In December 1984, a Union Carbide chemical plant released poisonous gas in Bhopal, India. Media reported that over 2,000 were killed and approximately 200,000 injured. Thus, Union Carbide had to respond to accusations of being callous and uncaring. Media made use of emotional appeal to describe the tragedy caused by the company:
"Hundreds died in their bed, most of them children and old people...Thousands more awoke to a nightmare of near suffocation, blindness and chaos. Many would die later. By the thousands, they stumbled into streets, choking, vomiting, sobbing burning tears, joining human stampedes fleeing the torment of mist that seemed to float everywhere. Some were run down by automobiles and trucks in panic. Others fell, unable to go on, and died in the gutters. (1984, p.A1)

In responding to this tragedy, Union Carbide made use of statements serving to bolster its image. It proved itself caring and concerned about people. It immediately engaged in corrective action by contributing to the treatment and rehabilitation of the injured and the families of the lost ones. According to Benoit (1995), compensation may imply guilt, but the company voluntarily contributed with money in an attempt to prove it was caring. Yet, Union Carbide made use of differentiation strategies precisely when it asserted that they would help the injured and emphasized that by allocating money for medical supplies they did not acknowledge guilt. Empirical evidence suggested that this statement, along with failure to engage in corrective action, as well as the use of scapegoating (blaming the Indian employees and the Indian government) did not engender a positive reaction on behalf of the stakeholders. More precisely, evidence showed that only 18 percent of the stakeholders did not hold Indian employees entirely responsible for the tragedy.

Critical analyses of the image restoration discourses that dovetail with empirical evidence can successfully show what strategies an organization should employ and under what circumstances so that it increases its effectiveness in saving/restoring/renewing its face/reputation.
As Benoit (1995) points out other strategies of responses can be further added to the theory and future research on crisis communication can best do so by critically analyzing a variety of crises responses along with their effects.