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The launch of the Mercedes‐Benz A‐class in 1997 was greeted with enthusiasm by the international motoring community until the Swedish “elk‐test” was performed. A spate of toppling cars was not how Mercedes‐Benz had pictured the launch of their new, safe supermini. Early public relations activity only succeeded in exacerbating the crisis. This case study highlights the mistakes made in the initial stages of the crisis, before examining the strategy employed by Mercedes‐Benz to recover the situation. This article concludes that a more open, honest and proactive approach to crisis communication might have saved Mercedes‐Benz a great deal of money and embarrassment.

In the 1990s evaluation has been at the centre of a continued debate in public relations. With the new millennium in sight public relations practitioners, academics and professional bodies are not only asking for an intensified discussion, but are also looking for guidelines of best practice which are seen as a necessary step for further development towards professionalism.

Participation in extreme sports, sometimes called adventure sports, action sports or even individualistic sports, has vastly increased in the last 20 years. The terms are still up for debate, only vaguely defined and are often used interchangeably. Both viewing and participation in this young sports phenomenon is on the rise, but the importance of it for the world of sports, media sport and the opportunities for sponsorship are little explored. This paper will examine the emergence of extreme sports and the connected industry, the reasons why people are enthralled by the new phenomenon and the opportunities it poses for communicators.