Oprah Winfrey - The Story of an Entrepreneur

The Other Side of Oprah? Contd...

They said that Oprah forced her employees to sign a lifelong confidentiality agreement, which bound them from making any revelations about Harpo in their lifetime. In a lawsuit filed by a former employee against the company, Harpo was described as a 'narcissistic workplace.'

Some employees even criticized Oprah for being a tough task master who drove her employees hard to meet her expectations. A former Harpo employee described the environment at Harpo as "an environment of dishonesty and chaos," and said, "everyone undermines everybody else to get more access to Oprah, and I think she encourages it."

Oprah accepted the fact that she gave her employees a tough time. However, regarding the confidentiality agreement, Oprah said, "You would not say it is harsh if you were in the tabloids all the time."

Oprah did not respond to other criticism about the work culture at Harpo. Oprah's decision to invest in Oxygen Media also tarnished her reputation.

In 2001 it was reported that the message boards on Oxygen Media offered links to websites featuring sex themes and kinky-pleasure stuff (Oprah banned such stuff on her talk show in the initial years itself). This was attributed to the alliance between Oxygen Media and ThriveOnline, a women's health site.

Though Harpo's spokesperson defended Oprah by saying that Oprah was away on a vacation and was ignorant of these aspects of Oxygen Media, some people suspected Oprah of permitting such material on the website. Some sections of Oprah's audiences criticized her spirituality shows such as 'One Way to Live' and 'Remembering Your Spirit.'

They said that in the early 21^st century Oprah had become more of a 'preacher woman' than a confidante and a friend. Some viewers even felt that Oprah was a hypocrite. They said that while she preached about the need to disregard material things and focus on the spiritual aspects of life, 'O' featured advertisements of luxury items from companies such as BMW, Louis Vuitton and Lancome, earning huge revenues for Harpo.

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Case Details

Case Code : LDEN006
Themes: Corporate Social Responsibility/Woman Entrepreneurs
Case Length : 14 Pages
Period : 1957-2000
Organization : Infosys
Pub Date : 2002
Teaching Note : Not Available
Countries : Japan
Industry : Media and Entertainment

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