PR Gone Wrong

Every so often, someone asks me what public relations is and what I do. It’s usually easier to give examples of recognizable PR work and unfortunately, lately there are a few notable instances of PR gone wrong that can help explain the industry.

The BP Oil Spill

The first of these examples is last year’s BP oil spill in the Gulf. The worst oil spill in our history, this event recently recognized its one-year anniversary. A year later is long enough to reflect on what went wrong, what went right and what should have been done differently.

As any PR professional will tell you about crisis communications, the three most important messages should be:

1.    We’re accountable and genuinely sorry
2.    We are concerned about the welfare of those involved and are doing everything we can to ensure safety
3.    We have a plan to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and to ensure that it won’t happen again

BP failed on all three counts, and on top of that, its executive management teams had consultants that gave poor advice.

To allow top management to wear suits while doing media interviews on the beach made them look callous and unaware of their surroundings. To spend millions on advertising while the livelihood of thousands along the spill’s path was in jeopardy made BP look uncompassionate.

BP’s public relations efforts surrounding the Gulf oil spoil were not executed properly and the reputation of the company has suffered as a result. NPR recently did an excellent analysis of all that went wrong in this situation.

“Googlegate”

Another more recent example of PR gone astray is “Googlegate,” the term used to reference the smear PR campaign against Google executed by Burson Marsteller on behalf of its client, Facebook.

Burson broke the cardinal rule of PR—transparency.

Beyond a violation of ethics for distributing inaccurate information about Google, Facebook’s competitor, Burson initially didn’t disclose its client when it pitched negative stories to media about a Google product. Lack of transparency is guaranteed to get any company into trouble. When in doubt, honesty is the best policy. USA Today and many other outlets have covered “Googlegate.”

Strategic and smart PR is an important component of protecting a company’s reputation. Recent examples of PR gone wrong further underscore the need for a strong PR team that will give sound advice in times of crisis, when it is more important than ever to effectively communicate with your key audiences.

-Lindsey Gehrig