Wednesday November 27, 2024

With Stories Like This

With stories like this, it is hard for Israel to maintain its reputation among nations.  The baby had done no harm nor had his mother who was killed nor his brothers who also died.  The photo of the toddler inflames passions and revolts viewers. One asks how the IDF can justify harming innocent civilians and […]

How Does This Happen?

Volkswagen is apologizing for a racist ad posted online.  The commercial showed a black man looking at one of its cars and a giant white hand flicking the black man away and into a restaurant called the “Little Colonist” in French.  It is an insensitive production at its core and someone in the ad agency […]

How Long Will This Last?

The CEOs of 200 companies have issued a new purpose for the corporation that gives shareholders a back seat.  It’s heartwarming publicity but the proof will be in performance.  Will it last only as long as the next stock meltdown and pressure from institutional investors?  A CEO of a troubled company would be foolhardy to […]

Was It Always This Way?

General Electric’s CEO is trying to stop infighting between divisions and to focus the corporation on quality and management.  The question arises whether it was always this way, even under the legendary Jack Welch?  A company that is turning out profits can cover a lot of sins.  When the money machine stops, all sorts of […]

With Press Like This…

No one wants a review like this one.  The reporter goes out of her way to reach for the most toxic terms she can find to damn Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappuccino.  There is nothing PR can do in a case like this.  It is hunker and let it pass.  Starbucks’ revenge will be to sell out […]

Is This Man Serious?

Any native-born citizen is entitled to run for President, but that doesn’t mean he should.  That is why one should ask if this man is serious about running.  His PR negatives are far greater than his positives, and many consider him a preening font of vanity.  But, he can run if he wishes.  He will […]

How Do You Do PR For This Industry

Mobile games are a marketplace of one-hit successes followed by little to nothing.  How do you do PR for a company or the industry at large?  PR and publicity resting on a one-hit wonder is a foundation of sand on the edge of an ocean.  Once the public tires of the game, there isn’t a bulwark […]

How Do You Handle This?

Airbnb, the apartment sharing startup, has a problem with prostitution.  It seems Ladies of the Night are using its services for tricks.  The service doesn’t seem worried about it, but one wonders if it should be.  What if people stop renting out apartments and rooms because they are afraid of the type of person who […]

Not Sure Of This

Would you be annoyed if in every store you entered, your smart phone started flashing adds for the store, for each department and for every aisle?  That is the way marketing is going.  I would find it bothersome and poor PR on the part of the retailer.  The first impulse is to shout, “Leave me […]

How Do You Recover From This?

Say you are a gene-testing company and you get a public letter of warning from the Food and Drug Administration that states what you are offering is a form of consumer fraud.  How do you recover your reputation after that?  This is what has happened to 23 and Me, the best-known brand of genetic testing […]