The Overview

The spring of 2007 has proved both unique and exciting in terms of PR crisis in the media. throughout the past few months we have see everything from the Anna Nicole Smith scandal to Imus and most recently the shootings at Virginia Tech.
The semester kicked off with the controversy over the Boston/Aqua Teen Hunger Force guerrilla marketing campaign. small, illuminated signs with Aqua Teen characters placed randomly throughout major cities across the country spawned an immediate reaction in Boston, where they were initially thought to be part of a terrorist plot. However, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino barely got time to disagree with the tactic and refer to it as an "outrageous stunt" and the product of "corporate greed" before the next big PR crisis gripped the nation. With the Death of Anna Nicole Smith followed month upon month of scandal, controversy the paternity fight for her daughter. it took months to uncover the actual cause of death, although ultimately what most people expected was true. there were so many twists and turns throughout the case the management of it became more like that of an on going saga than actual real-life events. it seems Anna gained more fame in death than she ever had in life and simply the scandalous nature of her death took her from a position not so highly regarded to that of almost iconic standing.
Next, Wise Foods was officially named the potato chip and cheez doodle sponsor of the Boston Red Sox, a smart move incorporating their logo with one of the most famous in the world, but more importantly to crisis PR than that, Brittney Spears shaved her head. From pop princess to sex icon to wife, mother and now strung out addict, the Spears name has made headlines covering an immensely broad range of topics. In and out of a rehab, tattoos and fighting the paparazzi and a now bald head left Brit with some serious explaining to do. Two months later we know shes out of rehab...again...and doing better, while the country greatly anticipates her expected comeback. although the bald head drew a lot of negative attention to the Spears brand, it also put her back in the limelight and in prime condition for an explosive comeback.
Oprah's new school in Africa was a monumental step for the Oprah brand, further establishing her worldwide. The school not only provides an amazing opportunity to girls who may never have had a chance but also caused controversy over why the S. African location, aids victims and just girls. Although the school caused much debate, however, its positive impact could not be overlooked.
The US health department has faced some scrutiny this spring as well when rats were uncovered in a number of big-city fast food restaurants. KFC/Taco Bell is a prime example considering the health department conducted a passed inspection in the location which was discovered to be rat-infested the next day. The instant PR problem this created was named by Geoffrey Cowley, associate commissioner for communications at the New York City health department, a "perceived problem" as opposed to an actual crisis situation, however any health department that becomes associated with missing rat infestation due to a lazy inspection has somewhat of a crisis on their hands.
From rat infestation to contaminated pet food, spring 2007 has not been a good period for the FDA. In March it was reported that at least 76 dogs died as a result of eating different brands of contaminated Diamond brand Pet Food. To make matters worse, for a while no one really knew what was wrong with the food or why it was making animals sick. Once it was discovered there were actually high levels of aflatoxin, a natural chemical derived from a fungus which causes severe liver damage in animals, mass amounts of the food were recalled immediately. Not soon enough to save the Diamond Pet Food Co. however, as they still faced mass amounts of public scrutiny.
Next, the Versace family publicly admitted the 20 year old heiress Allegra Versace was undergoing treatment for her long battle with anorexia. Of a somewhat ironic nature, this one incident could have a profound impact on the high-fashion industry. Currently size 0 is the only size, but with the public addmition of anorexia on the part of the Versace heir, all that seems likely to change.
Moving into April, there was the outrageous claim in which Keith Richards combined his fathers ashes with cocaine and snorted them. Public references to drug use are nothing new from this long-time public figure, however this just seemed over the top. although it was of course played off as a joke, the idea in itself is disturbing and left Disney with a queasy feeling as they release Pirates of the Caribbean 3, in which he stars.
The Imus controversy came next, sending the country into outrage at his perhaps racist and sexist comments. As Americans were torn between the significance of his slip, he saw himself lose his longtime job at CBS. Although he reappeared not long after the crisis occurred, Imus faced a few weeks of mass apologies for his actions. The scale of this event made it apparent Americans are not willing to stand for any type of discrimination, no matter whose mouth it comes from.
The Sanjaya craze dominated the media waves for a while as week after week he remained on the show. It obviously wasn't his talent keeping him on the show, so as he held steady American Idol credibility became unstable. As people doubted Sanjaya's talent they also began to doubt the show if it became based on voter popularity as opposed to genuine talent. luckily, Sanjaya was eliminated a few weeks later before any real damage could accrue, and Idol regained its stance as a reliable program. Finally, the last and by far most important PR crisis impacting our country recently were the tragic Virginia Tech shootings. Horrible atrocity aside, the main focus of the crisis was in the lack of communication regarding the event. Dorm shootings occurred early and students were not informed, while mass confusion and chaos defined the scene. The lack of communication on during the events on the V-Tech campus spawned a re-evaluation of crisis communication plans for many colleges and universities across the country and left practically everyone reevaluating the potential of their own crisis communication systems.
In terms of crisis communications news, this past few months has been far from boring. scandals, food contamination, political controversy and tragedy have plagued this subject as we move from event to event. As events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear to me how important crisis communication truly is in managing potentially devastating situations. Through my analyzation of these public crisis events throughout the semester, i have seen what works and what doesn't, and come to understand that wherever there is a crisis, there is always someone there, ready to manipulate it.

when reporting on crisis communications and current situations in the media, it is inherently necessary to discuss the Virginia Tech tragedy which engulfed the early part of this week. According to a PR week article (http://www.prweek.com/us/sectors/crisiscommunications/article/651936/Virginia-Tech-creates-comms-team-wake-tragedy/)
Within hours of the news, media from all over the world were arriving on the campus and in less than 24 hours, the university's communications staff was forced to come up with a contingency plan that enabled them to manage the country's largest gathering of national and international media in recent memory. Now, from my viewpoint as a student, being able to relate to the situation, a contingency plan to support the media torrent should definitely fall second to the plan that should have initially been devised to warn students immediately following the first shooting. I understand that there are 30,000 people at V. Tech and informing all of them in such a short period of time is basically impossible. i also understand, however, that the majority of those students were not on campus at 7 in the morning when the first shooting occurred. had the school taken the initiate to cancel school for the day considering dorm room shootings many of those off campus students would have stayed off. originally nothing was said to the students because they thought they were involved with an isolated incident and it apparently didn't seem necessary. however, at that time they had no motive, no capture and no suspect, so what lead them to assume so strongly it was isolated? whats done is done but i think had an announcement immediately been made and the campus closed, many lives could have been saved and many more unruined.

Bye-mus Imus

In today's day and age, after the "nappy headed hoes" comment, and according to an MSNBC inside story(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18126093/)it is really no wonder Imus's CBS days are in the past. I'm not sure if he was aiming at funny, didn't understand the slang or simply has been listening to too much rap music and forgot the terms were offensive, either way, he made a large mistake. in the world today the media public is always on the hunt for the next big controversial statement or story to follow. being a long-timer in the radio business Imus should definitely have known this prior to his verbal slip. as far as making up for it, i don't think he has many options. of course the most important thing to do would be apologize, again and again and again. he has to apologize specifically to the Rutgers team, to the school, to the black community and the nation as well. in the 21st century few have tolerance for racial slurs, especially on national radio. this in mind i doubt simple apologies, no matter how abundant, will be enough. CBS clearly didn't think so. the only other option i really see for Imus at this point is to try to spin something positive out of it. he has been compared to Howard Stern before and maybe its just time to make the transition to satellite as well. the word is that all publicity is good publicity, regardless of its positive or negative status. If nothing else positive has resulted for the show host, at least Imus is now basically a household name. he needs to find some way to harness that publicity and focus it on another, more positive aspect of his life or career. if he can prove that negative comments aside, he is still a genuine and respectable citizen and has good to offer the world, maybe, in time, redemption is still an option.

The J&J Way

When marketing a new, potentially high risk drug such as Johnson &
Johnson's new Ortho Evra birth control patch, premptive measures may be
necessary to eliminate risk of a Vioxx-type incident from occurring.
According to an article published by MediaPost Publications in Marketing
Daily, although Ortho Evra may be more convenient than oral birth
control, it has been proven to double the risk of blood clots. In
addition, women who use the patch are exposed to 60% more hormones than
those who take birth control pills. Keeping these potential negatives in
mind, Johnson & JOhnson has developed a strategy of their own to prevent
a crisis scenario before it even occurs. Since the online community plays
such an enormous and growing role in the spread of information, J&J hopes to avoid
negative online attention for its birth control patch by buying the rights
to negative domain names. by purchasing domain names such as
Deathbypatch.com and Orthoevrakills.com, the idea is that these domains
will no longer available for negative use against the company. Larry
Mickelberg, senior vice president/Marketing of Medical Broadcasting Co.
commented "It's really a best practice move." Although none of the domain
names purchased were currently in use, J&J saw how the Vioxx situation
prompted Web sites with names like Vioxxlitigation.com, Vioxxlawyers.com
and others. "Vioxx has definitely changed the rules for drug companies,"
Mickelberg said. In today's era of the internet and instant access to
information, there is so much opportunity for litigators who have become
quick to pounce on pharmaceutical companies. keeping this in mind the
actions J&J are taking to reduce the risk of negative online sites may be
a smart step in defending themselves against a potential crisis scenario.

Everyone Wants a Prime Rib

When you think of a coyote wandering in and taking control of a restaurant for an afternoon, good publicity isn't exactly the first type of publicity that comes to mind. however, a Chicago Quiznos found a way to make it just that. This past Tuesday a one and a half year old coyote, later named Adrian, found himself walking through a propped open front door of a Quiznos location and proceeded to jump over the counter, falling short and landing in the beverage cooler. According to a mediapost article in marketing daily (http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=58249), as customers scattered at the site of the wild animal invading their lunch hour, Adrian hung around for about 40 minutes. This wild animal in a public place scenario could have hurt the Quiznos chain for sure, however I for one am extremely impressed with how the situation was handled. immediately following the incident the company issued a press release quoting Quiznos' Executive Vice President/Corporate Marketing Officer Steve Provost as saying: "We've certainly been looking to expand our customer base and appeal to different demographics, and it appears that we have hit a chord with the animal kingdom. This has never happened before; we can only think that [the coyote] must have been attracted to our new Prime Rib on Garlic Bread and its above-average portions of meat. One thing is for sure, this coyote clearly has excellent taste." This move seems sheer brilliance as the potential wild animal crisis was actually turned into a light and somewhat funny advertisement for their new sandwich. Sandwich promotion aside, to make matters even better, the company donated $1000 to Chicago Animal Care and Control, where Adrian currently resides making animal activists happy as well. Thursday morning Adrian was transported to the Flint Creek Wildlife Refuge near Barrington, Ill. where he will be able to unite and roam freely with other stray urban coyotes. As a finishing touch on the crisis turned positive opportunity, Quiznos announced it was giving Adrian a farewell present--a Prime Rib on Garlic Bread sub "to go" while making sure to accentuate the fact that it was the sandwich that the coyote had "traveled far and wide for."

American Idol?

Thus far in their reality/entertainment history, American Idol has held their ground as a reality show capable of finding real talent and producing genuine super-stars. The latest season, however, has been facing a controversy truly capable of challenging the shows credibility. the name Sanjaya Malakar, quickly becoming household, has shocked the country week after week by somehow managing to make the top 10...despite his obvious lack of talent in comparison with other contestants. this is a problem for 2 reasons; 1. Precedents of American Idol talent are not factoring into Sanjaya's continuance on the show. the show is not being taken seriously and thousands of young girls continue voting to keep him on the show each week. Regardless of his actual talent, this creates potential for an American idol completely un-idol worthy. 2. contestants who really do possess talent are getting kicked off the show in order for Sanjaya to stay on. this takes away from the shows credibility greatly as now talent is no longer the focus, as it has been in the past. in reality, this season could make or break the future of the popular reality show. if the right man wins as usual, i see little change in the popularity and direction the show goes in, however as Sanjaya fights his way through elimination after elimination a new judging format may be necessary. it would clearly be a blow to the show if a less than extremely talented, teen heart-throb won based on popularity points alone. Maybe this is just a sign that the show has already reached its peak and viewers as a whole aren't taking it as seriously anymore. regardless, if AI hopes to remain on top they need to refine their judging strategies, maybe regulating viewer voting once contestants reach the top 10 to ensure those who make it are truly deserving and have a fair chance to win. otherwise, American Idol may have seen their best days and the time maybe have come for the country to move on to the next entertainment/reality show obsession.

The skinny on Versace

For years, stick thin models have paraded the runway defining fashion and beauty and setting the standard for how high class looks. However, now that the Versace family has publicly admitted 20 year old heiress Allegra Versace is undergoing treatment for her long battle with anorexia, could that be about to change? According to an article on CNN.com () The fashion industry has recently been forced to defend itself against brutal claims that its unrealistic versions of femininity lead women to develop eating disorders. its difficult to deny the claims however, when only last year the Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos died of heart failure during a fashion show, Ana Carolina Reston of Brazil died of complications brought on by anorexia and now Versace's own heriess is publicly suffereing from the disease. Will this finally be what it takes to turn the tides in the fashion indsutry and stop glamorizing such an unhealthy look? Spain has already gone as far as banning overly skinny models from the runway and Italy has signed a pact not to use girls under sixteen or stick-thin adult models, however these measures are far from being implemented universally. Now, however, with a name with such as Versace under the microscope it is clear the message has gone far enough. when your own daughter becomes deadly ill due to the message your company portrays it brings reality home, in a way perhaps giving them a taste of their own medicine. i personally think it is horribly sad what the girl has gone through and should definitely leave an impression on her parents, family and the indsutry as a whole. It’s unlikely that the designer community could afford to remain mute to a situation when the offspring of one of the illustrious names is so publicly suffering. that in mind, i think Versace's next best move would be taking action to prove that not only do they care about Allegra and realize the harm the industry caused her, but also the pain and suffering so many others have endured trying to be thin. if handled properly, this situation really could cause revolutionary changes in the world of fashion.