This study investigates how different types of corporate crises and issue congruence interplay in determining the effects of a previous corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative on the company faced with a crisis. The findings suggest that a prior CSR initiative can more effectively protect a company’s reputation when the company has a competence-related crisis than a morality-related crisis. In addition, when the social cause of the CSR initiative is congruent with the issue of the negative event, consumers will respond more negatively than when there is no issue congruence between CSR and the negative event. Moreover, there is an interaction effect between issue congruence and the type of crises. That is, when a firm has a moral crisis that is associated with the social cause supported in a previous CSR initiative, consumers perceive the firm’s CSR initiative to have been more insincere and selfish than if the firm were facing a competence-related crisis.