In Defense of Public Relations

BP Cares Shirts for Charity

The BP oil spill disaster is the worst in the history of the planet. This made me wonder what BP PR executives are doing because they have been incompetent in communicating what’s going on. They’ve been outright withholding information in some instances and lying to the public about their efforts. Their thumbs are simply up plugging a different hole, it seems.

So I imagined myself as a fly on the wall at BP’s crisis communications meetings (if they’re even having them).  Here’s my fly on the wall take on the way BP’s PR wants to spin this oil disaster (as tweeted):

1. At least when you swim in the beach, you no longer have to oil yourself.

2. No need to use oil when frying fish.

3. Oil spill aside, what we’ve done here is accelerate by decades for planet to go green.

4. When we came up with “Top Kill,” what we meant was top execs not hole.

5. The success of “top kill” is a buzzkill on PR. We’re getting so much publicity right now.

6. Let’s hold an outdoor showing of Armageddon for the fishermen.

7. Finally, we’ve proven that oil & water don’t mix.

8.  Unlike toyota, we’re only killing fish, wildlife & jobs.

9.  Let’s issue a press release that we broke the world record on oil spill disasters.

10. Give us time. We’ll invent a car that runs on ocean-oil water.

I could go on and on here making fun of BP’s disastrous PR response, but it’s time to hear from you PR folks on your Fly On The Wall take on BP’s PR response.

Have a safe Memorial Day weekend.

There’s no one else out there today besides President Obama who can command the media’s attention the way Tiger Woods does. Known for breaking almost all the records in golf, Tiger is now breaking all the rules in PR.

When his agent, Mark Steinberg, came out with a statement yesterday that Tiger will finally going to address the public and apologize for his no longer recent troubles with MRS. WOODS and the skanky ladies who look like Jersey Shore rejects, as a PR pro and Tiger fan, I pretty much said, “dude, it’s about time.”

Kissed, Made Up and Making Out

I wonder what other celebrity, public figure, brand that can keep quiet for more than three months before addressing the media and the public. I mean Toyota is getting grilled daily for taking a week to respond about its recall and here’s Tiger who’ll be strolling in this Friday at PGA Tour headquarters months later.  And it turns out, the public statement he will be making is simply that–a statement. He won’t be taking any questions from the press. Seriously, who does that? It boggles my PR mind.

What Tiger is doing reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander) decides to do the complete opposite of every decision that he instinctively makes.  In the end, Costanza gets a job with the New York Yankees.

Will Tiger’s strategy of doing the opposite of what we in PR are accustomed to work out for him in the end like Costanza? I guess we’ll have to wait. If Tiger gets a job with the Yankees, then we’ll know his PR strategy was a_________________.

In an episode of Mad Men last season, a former client comes to Sterling Cooper because its dog food product made with horse meat became public. It became a public relations nightmare for the company. Even though all dog food products including those made by its competitors was made with horse meat, it no longer mattered. The public had formed its opinion and it wouldn’t be swayed.  Don Draper and Roger Sterling put it bluntly to the client that the name was done. It’s been poisoned.

That was fiction. Toyota’s crisis is all too real. Is the Toyota name done? After decades of developing a carefully crafted message that Toyota vehicles were safe and superior to American cars, this recall can destroy all that.

Suzy Welch put it best in a tweet below:

Do you think the Toyota name is poisoned like the fictional company in Mad Men? Share what you think.