This current project turns from image repair scholarship in specific contexts and after specific infractions and instead, looks at image repair against a specific type of offense: a regretted apology. 

Josh Compton

Regretted apologies create a unique rhetorical situation, possibly leading to an apology for an apology. This essay draws on the work of Benoit’s (1995) image repair typology to survey attempts to repair image when the offense is an earlier attempt at image repair. Two case studies are offered—one in politics and one in entertainment—to assess image repair efforts after regretted apologies. Implications for image repair analyses are offered, as well as suggestions for further work to add nuance to image repair theory.

Compton, J. (2013, November). Sorry sorries: Image repair after regretted apologies [paper presentation]. National Communication Association, Washington, D.C., United States.