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 […]
Posted on May 22nd, 2020 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 120 Comments »
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 […]
Posted on August 20th, 2019 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 182 Comments »
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 […]
Posted on May 23rd, 2019 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 154 Comments »
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 […]
Posted on April 21st, 2017 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 180 Comments »
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 […]
Posted on March 19th, 2015 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 189 Comments »
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 […]
Posted on October 3rd, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 25 Comments »
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 […]
Posted on April 23rd, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 179 Comments »
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 […]
Posted on February 14th, 2014 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 198 Comments »
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 […]
Posted on November 27th, 2013 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 168 Comments »
Companies are suing and fining customers for bad-mouthing them online. Threats are designed to muzzle them through intimidation. How dumb is that? All it does is tick off the unhappy person who will make an extra effort offline to give the company a bad name, and the more people who find out about such aggressive […]
Posted on November 22nd, 2013 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 429 Comments »
