Learning from mistakes: The biggest PR blunders of 2010

Let's face it, no matter how you wake up on New Year's day (fresh with resolutions at hand or  hung over and trying to recall resolutions ) the memories that we carry forward with us  from the previous year are the prominent events that transpired in our personal lives and the public eye. We do this because these events are lessons that we hope to learn from and it also shapes the way we receive the days ahead.

So, in the spirit of learning and bidding farewell to the year that was, I have compiled a few of the  PR nightmares of 2010 that you probably heard of unless you were living under a sound proof shell.

Hence, Smart Communication Presents: 

Learning from mistakes: The biggest PR blunders of 2010

BP: Oops I did it again...

  Tons and tons of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico and just as many “should haves”, “would haves” and “could haves”.

Public relations professionals are all for speaking out early and often in times of crisis and that’s what CEO Tony Hayward did. Unfortunately he mangled British Petroleum’s corporate image by downplaying the damage and issuing thoughtless sound bites, including “it wasn’t our accident” and “I just want my life back”–after 11 workers lost their lives in the explosion of oil rig Deepwater Horizon.



 Honestly, even the most powerful PR wizard could do nothing for them after photos of the environmental and ecological devastation caused by the spilled surfaced and spread just as quickly as the oil.   


Toyota: Keep Rollin-rollin-rollin

  If you were one of the many Americans who had just purchased a new Toyota in 2009, you were probably smiling to yourself every time you got into your new car and admired how low its fuel consumption was. That was until the day you knock over old Miss Bertha as she was crossing the street when instead of stopping, you experienced “Unintended acceleration”. 


 With Toyota eventually “at the center of the biggest product recall since the Firestone tire fiasco in 2000,” the company issued multistage recalls and promoted inconsistent solutions. They went as far as blaming parts suppliers and at one point targeting drivers themselves with the help of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report. Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University, told MSNBC.com “If you look at what they did, it was clear that they didn’t really understand the magnitude of the issue and the potential PR risk.”   Tsk tsk… 

Craigslist:  Strangers in the night….

 Classifieds website Craigslist had fought long and hard to retain its “Adult Services” category (which was previously “Erotic Services” but changed it, a feeble attempt at placating negative publicity) and when Craigslist was unofficially branded as “The Wal-Mart of online sex trafficking”, they decided to bring out the big guns. 

 Founder Craig Newmark answered the call and did the right thing by engaging in an interview on CNN. Unfortunately, Mr.Newmark probably hadn’t put himself through the ever important media training sessions to effectively deal with an investigative reporter such as Amber Lyon.
 
The end result was so bad it leaves me cringing every time I think about it. 

Other HUGE PR Blunders of 2010: 
Amazon bans porn but promotes pedophilia

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-its-ok-to-write-books-about-having-sex-with-kids-but-porn-is-out-of-bounds-2010-11 


Gap Logo controversy

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpps/news/new-gap-logo-controversy-dpgoha-20101008-fc_10008513 

Johnson & Johnson "phantom recalls"
http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/18/news/companies/jnj_drug_recalls.fortune/index.htm 


Nestlé‘s use of environmentally questionable palm oil 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304434404575149883850508158.html