Archive for the &;public-relations-disaster&; Category

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Publish and BeDamned

December 24, 2010

&;Publish and be damned!&;     Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington,  when courtesan Harriette Wilson threatened to publish her memoirs and his letters

  Yes, it&;s funny that Bank of America bought up more than 400 &;derog&; (to put it in credit scoring terms) domain names.  And yes, it&;s funnier that they can&;t get them all, like this one or &;BrianTMoynihanWetsTheBed.com.&; Like the proverbial broken clock that&;s right twice a day, even Henry Blodget (who probably belongs in jail, not influencing investors ) rightfully heaps abuse upon the hapless guardians of Bank of America&;s &;reputation.&;   But it&;s also sad, too, that Bank of America executives, who in any case seem to be running a single-minded bad publicity campaign (taking this person&;s bird and the ashes of this one&;s husband), are quaking in their non-Wellington boots at the threat of a WikiLeaks document dump.    We know what the Duke of Wellington would have said to this third-rate Die Hard villain (if he didn&;t challenge Julian Assange to a duel first).  Bank of America clearly doesn&;t believe in the success of its own campaign to win back the hearts, minds and wallets of American consumers.    Otherwise, they would have told Assange &;Publish and be damned.&;    

 

Tags:bad-PR, bad-publicity-campaigns, Bank-of-America, Julian-Assange, WikiLeaks Posted in Public Relations, public-relations-disaster, WikiLeaks | Leave a Comment &;

Jail forWhales

February 25, 2010

Twitter has its &;Fail Whale&;. Seaworld has its jail whale. Yesterday, Tilikum the orca killed his trainer at Seaworld in Florida.  It&;s the third person he&;s killed in 20 years of captivity. In most states he&;d be a locked-down lifer, like Thomas Silverstein.  Both have killed three humans, and this American Museum of Natural History expert called this a premeditated attack. But convicts are judged and convicted by other humans.  Tilikum has been a locked-down lifer for 20 years.  Who makes the decision to enslave whales for our entertainment? Imagine a conversation between Tillikum and his captors.  (One of my former PR colleagues had the Seaworld account; part of her job was to take journalists out on the &;capture boat&; to show them how humane the Shamu-capture was.) &;We&;re going to take you out of the ocean and put you in a tank.&; &;What?&; &;No more freezing in the northern seas.  You&;ll be in Florida.&; &;Where?&; &;You won&;t lead the pod and the females anymore.  You&;ll occasionally have sex to provide new whales for Seaworld.&; &;What?&; &;Best of all, you&;ll be trained as an entertainer.  We&;ll feed you salmon as a treat and you&;ll get to play with a ball in front of crowds!&; &;What?&; &;But you can&;t kill anyone.&; &;Really?&;

Tags:animal-rights, Seaworld, Shamu, Tillikum, Tillikum-killer-orca Posted in animals-in-the-news, public-relations-disaster | Leave a Comment &;

Toyota ScapegoatingSupplier?

February 10, 2010

Is Goliath-sized Toyota scapegoating their David-sized supplier, CTS Corp? It&;s hard to count the ways Toyota has turned what should have been a simple product recall (several years ago) into a snowballing PR disaster.  Now it appears they are scapegoating a supplier&;in addition to slow disclosure, stonewalling investigators, denial, failure to get out in front of the issue, non-availability of corporate leadership, uncoordinated and negative actions by stakeholders (the dealership attack on just one of the messengers, ABC News), to name a few. The angry dealers might also want to cancel their subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal.  In addition to noting Congress doesn&;t buy Toyota&;s pedal and floormat fix, the Journal is questioning Toyota&;s putting the blame on CTS Corp.  The WSJ checked with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who confirmed that CTS-built gas pedals get stuck only at low speed and aren&;t &;believed to make cars accelerate out of control.&;  According to CTS, the sticking pedals have occured in fewer than 20 cases and have never been linked to any accidents. Many suspect possible software issues with the electronic control system in the vehicles.  Toyota may not even know what the problem is.   Whatever the real fix is, blaming a supplier only makes Toyota look worse.

Tags:Toyota, Toyota-disaster, Toyota-public-relations-disaster, Toyota-recall Posted in ABC-News, Automobiles, Automotive-industry, Public Relations, public-relations-disaster | 1 Comment &;

ABC News Hangs Tough onToyota

February 10, 2010

Bravo to ABC News, hanging tough in the face of Toyota&;s shameful attempt to intimidate, control coverage and &;punish&; ABC by pulling their advertising.  Instead, ABC News went full throttle (sorry) on Toyota again, running an exclusive interview with Dimitrios Biller today.  Biller worked as managing counsel for Toyota&;s American operations from 2003 to 2007.  His comments? &;You have to understand that Toyota in Japan does not have any respect for our legal system. They did not have any respect for our laws.&;  Unhappy ex-employee? Sure, but one who says the company made a practice of not revealing safety issues.   &;They were hiding evidence, concealing evidence, destroying evidence, obstructing justice,&; said Biller. The Toyota recall(s)&;and coverup&;is a big story.  It&;s not just how many Toyota owners there are in the United States.  How many vulnerable children travel in Toyotas every day?  How many of us shares the road with a Toyota at any given time?  ABC is right to stick with this story like a terrier cornering a rat.  And when Toyota finally puts its house in order, the advertisers will come back to ABC.

Tags:ABC-News, Toyota, Toyota-dealers, Toyota-public-relations-disaster, Toyota-recall Posted in ABC-News, Advertising, Automobiles, Automotive-industry, public-relations-disaster | 2 Comments &;

Toyota Dealers Compound Public RelationsDisaster

February 9, 2010

News flash: Toyota doesn&;t know what they&;re doing.  And apparently, not just in terms  of making safe cars, but in terms of communicating. If the company&;s slow disclosure, foot-dragging, lack of responsiveness and weak apologies aren&;t bad enough, Toyota dealers are engaged in classic blame-the-messenger behavior, pulling ads from ABC, which has displayed a rare pair in fully covering the crisis.  The 173 Southern dealers in five states cited &;excessive coverage of the Toyota issues.&; Telling, Marcia Owens-Reder, senior vice-president at 22Squared, the Atlanta advertising agency that handles the account for Southeast Toyota, &;tried&; to talk the dealers out of the move, but they insisted on &;punishing&; ABC for their own company&;s problems.  This is a textbook example of when you&;re in a hole, keep digging with a backhoe.  Just as bad: Jack Fitzgerald, a Washington, DC, dealer, told the AP, &;I can&;t wait for the village idiot to dump his Toyota for nothing. I can certainly make money on it.&; Good to see that the classic American car dealer, far from being a dying breed, is still providing the ethical service that has long distinguished them.

Tags:ABC-News, Toyota-dealers, Toyota-disaster, Toyota-Prius, Toyota-public-relations-disaster, Toyota-recall Posted in ABC-News, Automobiles, Automotive-industry, public-relations-disaster | 3 Comments &;

British Airways An Accident Waiting toHappen?

June 17, 2009

In a company designed to defy gravity and send hundreds of passengers hurtling at 500 miles per hour 30,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean, it&;s never a good idea not to pay your employees. Similarly, Terminator Salvation or no, I&;d be a little leery of riding the roller coasters at the bankrupt amusement park.

Tags:amusement-parks, British-Airways, crisis-communications, public-relations-disaster, Six-Flags, Travel Posted in public-relations-disaster | Leave a Comment &;

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman ProudPhilistine

March 2, 2009

Although he&;s been trying to bring world-class medical facilities to Las Vegas, Mayor Oscar Goodman&;s civic boosterism doesn&;t extend to the arts. &;I don&;t see a museum for art as necessary downtown.  The masters are on the Strip.  There&;s also round-trip airfare to Los Angeles.  It&;s not necessary to have a art museum.  I want a mob museum.&;   The dismissiveness of this statement is reminscent of Hermann Goring&;s &;Every time I hear the word &;culture&; I reach for my revolver.&; Former mob lawyer Goodman (full disclosure: I&;ve interviewed him and like him) does like to play the buffoon with his love of gin, showgirls and frequently politically-incorrect statements, like wanting to hang graffitti &;artists&; by their thumbs or inviting Miss America contestants to a bikini party in a pool full of gin.  But he&;s not stupid; a mob museum would  be more unique, probably a better tourist draw and certainly a better representative of how Las Vegans want to see themselves and their founding fathers. After all, what can you expect in a city where even the term &;college girl&;  (live to your room) is proudly pornographic?

Tags:arts-decline, Las Vegas, Las-Vegas-founding-fathers, Miss-America, mob-museum Posted in Las Vegas, public-relations-disaster, Travel | Leave a Comment &;

Newsweek Sanctions DubaiPrejudice

February 20, 2009

When the Dubai government refused to issue a visa to Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer, the Tennis Channel refused to cover the tournament and the Wall Street Journal Europe revoked its sponsorship.  Newsweek, the other media sponsor, did nothing.  Later they issued this statement: &;Newsweek shares the stated commitment of the Women&;s Tennis Association and the Association of Tennis Professionals to &;fair play&; in Dubai and to assuring that tournaments are open to all qualified players in the future. If Israeli player Andy Ram is not permitted to enter Dubai to play in the men&;s tournament, which begins Monday, Newsweek will withdraw from sponsoring the event.&; So discriminating against Peer is apparently OK with Newsweek.  But if Dubai does it one more time, they might do something. Yet another missed chance for relevancy and courage for Newsweek.  There won&;t be many more.

Tags:death-of-journalism, death-of-newsmagazines, Dubai-prejudice, Israeli-tennis-discrimination, Newsweek-prejudice Posted in Journalism, public-relations-disaster | Leave a Comment &;

Dumbest ElectionReactions

November 5, 2008

Ralph Nader called Barack Obama an &;Uncle Tom&; on Fox the other night, apparently because Nader thinks he&;s a corporate tool. Perhaps Nader would like someone more authentic like Jesse Jackson (last seen sobbing for the TV cameras after the election) to &;cut his nuts off?&; Then there&;s this NSFW missive, from my erstwhile employer Larry Flynt, the auteur behind the eagerly-awaited &;Nailin Palin&;. Meanwhile, NBA star Gilbert Arenas  was convinced both contenders would raise his taxes if elected.  Earning his &;Agent Zero&; sobriquet, he protested in the dumbest way possible: by not voting.

Tags:Barack-Obama, Gilbert-Arenas, Jesse-Jackson, Larry-Flynt, Ralph-Nader Posted in Politics, public-relations-disaster | Leave a Comment &;

20 Fired in Celebrity PrivacyViolation

November 1, 2008

Violating patient privacy doesn&;t just happen in Los Angeles, or to people like Farrah Fawcett.  Even in Jacksonville, FL, there are celebrities&;and hospital workers anxious to violate their privacy.  Twenty hospital workers &; nurses, admissions workers and patient relations staff &; lost their jobs this week, accused of breaking federal privacy rules by accessing the medical records of the (NFL Jacksonville) Jaguars&; Richard Collier. Two weeks after Collier &; who was shot 14 times &; was well enough to be discharged from Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center, 20 hospital employees were fired for violating Collier&;s medical privacy. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, (HIPAA) should not be a joke.  My medical condition is between my doctors and appropriate supporting personnel and myself&;it&;s not watercooler chatter for the bored and stupid. While I admit that wheedling records out of hospital personnel is what tabloid reporters, as I used to be, are trained to do, doesn&;t mean that it&;s OK for medical personnel to sell or otherwise discuss a star&;s (or anyone&;s) medical condition. And this will not stop until doctors are among those fired or otherwise disciplined.

Tags:celebrities, Farrah-Fawcett, HIPPA, Jacksonville, NFL, Privacy, privacy-violation, Richard-Collier, tabloid-journalism Posted in public-relations-disaster | Leave a Comment &;

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