Category Archives: ethics

Komen hires the wrong PR firm, missing the boat once again (and a quibble with PR Daily’s coverage of the story)

Posted on by

The Susan G. Komen Foundation has hired a big-hitter PR firm. And not just any PR firm, either.

Now, Komen is assessing the damage, and it’s using a consulting firm founded by two former Democratic strategists. Penn Schoen Berland (PSB), the firm Komen hired to help determine how badly the crisis hurt its reputation, is founded by former Democratic strategists Mark Penn and Doug Schoen.

The goal here seems obvious. Komen’s recent bout of ballistic podiatry cost it massive amounts of support among people who believe that women’s health shouldn’t be held captive to a partisan agenda. The foundation has accurately understood that this means it needs people from the center and points left in order to thrive. Or, at this point, survive. So they go out and hire … Mark Penn.

Wait, what? Continue reading →

Hey PR professionals – thinking of representing a distressed brand? Six important things to consider before signing that retainer

Posted on by

Yesterday I offered some thoughts on the sociopathic nature of some public relations agencies. Once we learn that American firms are lipsticking brutal despots and states that support terrorism it’s legitimate to wonder if there is anyone on Earth that they wouldn’t represent. I just heard a story this morning about a flak who went so far as to take on the remnants of the Khmer Rouge. So if Syria, Libya, Bahrain and the most notorious purveyors of genocide since World War 2 aren’t out of bounds, you have to figure somebody in the industry would gladly sign up Kim Jong-Il, Hitler, Stalin and the Khan boys (Genghis and Agha) for the right amount of money. Continue reading →

Sociopathic PR firms and the clients they serve

Posted on by

Part one of two…

I work in the world of marketing and corporate communications, and my track record of business-related posts probably demonstrates how seriously I take ethical concerns. For instance, not long ago I made clear that I think understanding the truth of a bad news story aimed at a client comes before worrying about how to respond. Back in November, I took a hard look at the eroding credibility of public relations as a profession and suggested that maybe the behavior of PR practitioners had a lot to do with our slide into lawyer, hooker and used car salesman territory. At various points along the way I’ve ventured opinions on everything and everybody from Toyota to Tiger Woods (to Augusta National), BP to LBJ, Target to Dillard’s, and Rupert Murdoch to the Denver Post, which used to be a newspaper.

Sometimes I comment on what strike me as merely bad strategies. Continue reading →

Heard the latest PR joke? (The single most important thing to consider when TV news wants to skewer your client.)

Posted on by

Yesterday Ragan’s PR Daily, an excellent resource for professional communicators of all stripes, offered up a feature entitled “8 things to consider when TV news wants to skewer your client.” As is the usually the case with Ragan’s stuff, Gil Rudawsky’s article provided some useful on-point advice for the media relations practitioner, and the comment thread finds other experienced folks jumping into the discussion in helpful ways.

But – you knew there was a “but” coming, didn’t you? – I can’t help quibbling a little. Let’s begin with Rudawsky’s eight points: Continue reading →

Happy 4th – and a note on opportunity

Posted on by

This isn’t exactly the most active business day of the year, but on the off chance that somebody is surfing by let me wish you a happy 4th.

In celebrating the nation’s independence we’re also celebrating an idea – the freedom to pursue opportunity, to shape and control our own destinies.

Of course, despite our best intentions opportunity isn’t always as equal as we’d like. Given my own history, I’m a big fan of those who work hard to make something of themselves even when the odds are not in their favor, and I’m also a huge fan of those who use their influence and position to create opportunity for those further down the socio-economic ladder.

Here’s hoping that in the coming year we can find ways, all of us, to create more meaningful opportunities for prosperity and happiness.

Have a good one. And now I have a cookout to attend to….

Progressive capitalism: Tocqueville, RJ Reynolds, and taking back our American birthright

Posted on by

This is a song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles. We’re stealing it back. – Bono

Business ethics have been much on my mind of late. Gavin (Whythawk) has pounded Scholars & Rogues (a politics and culture blog I contribute to) with a steady stream of posts that come from some really different angles. The S&R crew is largely American and progressive, but he’s African and Libertarian. Unlike many Libs I know, though, he’s not a creature of pure theory – he gets his hands dirty trying to drive investment at the bottom of the food chain in a place where the bottom is about as low as it gets on Spaceship Earth.

The result, for me at least, is that I find myself thinking about how years of fat cat scandal and abuse here in America has worked to make “capitalism” a dirty word among folks to left of center. Continue reading →