When expressing the cause of an event in French, the preposition you choose depends entirely on the outcome of the situation.
Negative Outcomes: à cause de
When a situation has a negative (or sometimes neutral) result, use à cause de (because of / due to) followed by a noun. This phrase is typically used when placing blame, such as during a media scandal or PR crisis.
| The minister had resigned because of the disastrous controversy. | Le ministre avait démissionné à cause de la polémique désastreuse. |
| He worsened the scandal because of his statement. | Il a aggravé le scandale à cause de sa déclaration. |
| His image had become disastrous because of these rumors. | Son image était devenue désastreuse à cause de ces rumeurs. |
Positive Outcomes: grâce à
When a situation has a positive or beneficial result, use grâce à (thanks to) followed by a noun. You use this to give credit for a success, like saving a reputation or managing a crisis well.
| The spokesperson saved our reputation thanks to his statement. | Le porte-parole a sauvé notre réputation grâce à sa déclaration. |
| He managed his image well thanks to this press release. | Il a bien géré son image grâce à ce communiqué. |
Notice that both of these prepositional phrases can be placed at the end of the sentence, or at the very beginning to emphasize the cause.
| Thanks to this director, we had managed our reputation well. | Grâce à ce directeur, nous avions bien géré notre réputation. |
| Because of this error, you worsened the crisis. | À cause de cette erreur, vous avez aggravé la crise. |
| Thanks to this press release, the team finally reassures the clients. | Grâce à ce communiqué, l'équipe rassure enfin les clients. |
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