Managing Public Dismay and Saving the Image of the Four Seasons Bali: The Case of the Karma Cleansing Ceremony

Jasper Bosma; Johan Bouwer; Rob van Ginneken

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Managing Public Dismay and Saving the Image of the Four Seasons Bali: The Case of the Karma Cleansing Ceremony

Jasper Bosma, Johan Bouwer, and Rob van Ginneken

Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands

Volume 15: 2018 pp. 323-326: ABSTRACT

This case describes an ethical dilemma faced by the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan in September 2015. The resort had hosted a ceremony which appeared to be, on pictures posted on social media, the wedding of a homosexual couple. A local uproar ensued, and several stakeholders, including the local government, considered the event an outrage – same-sex marriage being illegal in the country – and the sales executive faced criminal charges of blasphemy, as the use of Hindu symbols was considered offensive. The case should make students reflect on the nature of several moral dilemmas that emerged in this specific hospitality context, and ask themselves questions like “who is responsible for the dismay?; has the dilemma been solved adequately? and, more generally, how should international companies deal with such matters?”