Online Public Relations Thoughts

Government shutdowns resolve nothing but inconvenience everyone. It looks like we're in for another one.  The message they send to the public is that politicians can't resolve their differences although they were elected to do just that.  It is a statement of futility.  The problem this time lies with the Republicans who cannot marshal support from breakaway dissidents.  One wonders how citizens will respond to it in the next election.  

When does artistic minimalism become fraud?  Apparently when you do this.  A Danish court has mandated that the artist pay back the money he was given for the work.  That seems right.  Art should have some craft skills associated with it, and this artist used none of them.  It would be no different if a novelist submitted a blank page for publication and claimed it art.  

 A result of hype in the business world.  Another reason why it is better to be transparent and stick to facts in communications.  

President Biden is about to do what no other president has done -- walk a picket line.  He is all-in with the United Auto Workers in their effort to increase compensation and preserve jobs.  Biden has proclaimed himself the champion of the middle class and this is his way of showing it.  No matter that he will lose management by appearing on the line.  He is placing his bet on UAW votes.  There are more line workers than managers.  Still, it is a risky bit of communication that could come back to bite him.  Only time will tell.  

A new AP-NORC poll shows Americans are changing their opinions about man-made climate change -- slowly.  While Democrats overwhelmingly believe in it, Republicans are still divided and there are still an abundance of deniers.  The cause for the change has been extreme heat, flooding and fires that affected the United States this past summer.  People are believing it because they are experiencing it.  All the scientific papers and communications of decades were for naught until the public was in climate change.  In other words, citizens were told but they ignored the evidence until they saw it for themselves. That doesn't say much for effective communications.  

Hard right Republicans are ignoring a basic rule of governance:  If you want to get along, go along.  They are pushing the Federal government to shutdown with implacable demands and nothing the Speaker of the House can do will sway them.  It is as if they are in a different party and appealing to a different constituency.  The Speaker needs their votes but he isn't getting them and he is frustrated.  The questions are now:  What can he say to appease them?  What must he do?  He has a political crisis on his hands and no way to solve it.  Being Speaker of the House is a job that only the masochistic can covet.  

 A high-speed passenger rail corridor is opening between Miami and Orlando.  It is a privately built venture and it expects to ferry tens of thousands a year.  The owners of the system are busily promoting it in the media and trumpeting its features.  But a question remains.  Will it work?  Will Floridians abandon their cars for the rails?  That is a great unknown and the fate of the enterprise depends on answering the question.  Rail around the world tends to be government-supported.  It's too expensive to run otherwise.  The private group that built it is trying to be a unicorn, a one-off success in a world where Amtrak dominates with its quasi-government structure.  One wishes them well but without great hope for the future.

 Another data point demonstrating global warming...  Will the skeptics get the message this time?  

It has been a terrible PR fall for Rudy Giuliani who once was America's mayor and now is a potential felon.  He is being sued for unpaid legal bills -- nearly $1.4 million.  Giuliani feels abandoned by the man he so stalwartly defended -- former president Trump.  Giuliani has his apartment up for sale for $6.5 million and is turning assets into cash as quickly as possible to provide for his defense. It's a sad come-down for a man who led the city during the 9/11 terrorist attacks but he was complicit in his fall. He hanged his reputation and now is paying for it.  

A school district wants conformity in hair styles.  A black youth wants his dreadlocks.  The youth gets suspended and the school district is sued.  Each side thinks it is in the right.  This is a case of clashing perceptions and there is no good way out of them except through the courts.  The youth maintains that dreadlocks are part of his heritage.  The school points to dress codes that it believes are essential to good order.  It is up to a judge now to determine which view must yield.  There is no palliative communication that will work.  One or the other will have to give way.  

What are the messages the White House can send now that the President's son is indicted for illegal gun possession?  The President has been a strong supporter of his son even though Hunter had a history of drug addiction and fraudulent behavior.  Will the President stand back in an election year and let justice take its course?  What is the perception he will make if he does?  Or, if he intervenes?  The President already is in trouble politically with an impeachment inquiry, lousy poll numbers and a general perception that he is too old for the job. Add his son's legal woes and there isn't much more he can say.  A sad situation.

 Apple has a crisis on its hands with the French government ruling that its phones are radioactive.  The company has communicated in depth to resolve the issue but French regulators are adamant.  There doesn't seem to be a good way out of this mess unless the regulators back off.  It is bad PR for the company and maybe, for the French if the ruling is not upheld.  Stay tuned.

When a company has erred like Fox Corp. there doesn't seem to be an ending to the punishment it receives -- like this.  Who would have thought that pension funds would sue Fox for bad reporting that cost the company millions in lawsuits?  The reason?  Harm to shareholders in the diminished value of the stock.  If the suit is successful, Fox will have paid more than a billion dollars as a result of its conspiracy theories over Trump's loss of the election.  The company is a case study of corporate malfeasance and a warning to CEOs everywhere.  Lies have consequences and the best PR is transparency even when it hurts.  Sadly, many leaders will not learn the lesson because they are too busy protecting their image, using PR as flackery and not for truth.  

The New York Jets Football team had scored a PR and marketing coup by hiring veteran quarterback Aaron Rogers who is well on his way to the hall of fame.  But as luck will have it, Rogers went down with a leg injury after taking just four snaps in his debut game.  It seems to be the fate of the team, which never quite makes it into the top echelon.  Team owners should be praised for trying but there is something about its football personnel that fails to rise above mediocrity whereas other teams regularly show in the top ranks.  Who knows what the reasons are?  

Spanish soccer president, Luis Rubiales, was adamant three weeks ago that he wouldn't resign for kissing a winning soccer player on the lips.  Now he is gone.  He spoke too soon about his desire to stay on at the Spanish Soccer Federation.  He gave a press conference during which he repeated over and over that he would not step down.  It is now an embarrassment.  The incident is a reminder to communicators to avoid taking hard-edge positions when one is not in control of events.  Rubiales was under strong criticism.  He should have known that his resignation was a possibility and he should have moderated his remarks in light of that.  He didn't and now the press conference is being replayed to his shame.  

Government and business officials in Maui are begging tourists to return to the island because they need the visitors' money to survive and rebuild.  It is a PR campaign tinged with desperation.  The island depends almost totally on outsiders bringing their dollars in. Farming is long gone and scrub land replaced it, the terrain that ignited and destroyed Lahaina.  Resorts are offering good deals and airlines are discounting the trip there.  It is an all-out push to get tourists back.  Will it work?  Probably but it will take time, which many of the citizens of the island don't have. They need work now and not later.  It's a tough assignment for the authorities and business leaders and one can only hope they meet the challenge.  

With each attack on civilians and mounting deaths, President Vladimir Putin is deepening the perception of brutality.  He is a leader who cares not a whit about people but wants to maintain an iron grip on power.  Whatever it takes is not out of the realm of consideration.  He has savaged towns and villages.  He has thrown his own soldiers into the mayhem without care for their lives.  He pretends to abide by orthodox Christianity.  He blames Ukrainians for the war when he started it.  He is the epitome of an amoral head of state and his citizens support him.  He uses propaganda to support his war and the people believe it.  The few dissenters are jailed or killed.  He is the antithesis of democracy and successful.  One can imagine what will happen to Russia once he is gone but he is in good health and seemingly has years to serve. Putin is a reminder, as if we needed one, that  pragmatic leadership can work and one can hold onto power as long as he unafraid to use it in the worst ways.  

Where there is a will, there is a way. Thus, America's embargo on advanced chip technology going to China has been defeated by the Chinese making their own breakthrough chips.  All the regulations and PR from the White House have come to naught.  Now. the administration must rethink its trade embargo policy.  Almost certainly, Huawei throw hundreds of millions into the development of the semiconductor, but that was with the backing of the Chinese government.  Now that the Chinese have the technology, the Defense Department, the State Department and other US agencies have to redo their strategies for dealing with the country.  The US has lost its lead and is in the thickets of global competition again.  

The public is speaking but the President isn't listening.  What they are saying is that he is too old to handle a second term in office.  It is no matter that his likely opponent, Trump, is just three years younger.  Biden has a serious PR problem in convincing voters that he is fit enough for another four-year grind.  What is hurting him is his low-key speaking style in which he slurs his words often, legacy of his life-long battle with a speech impediment.  He needs to come out swinging for the fences without the gaffes that he is prone to fall into.  It is a tall order for him but he will need to do it if he intends to serve another term.  

To those who persistently deny man-made climate change, here is another proof of its existence.  How can individuals continue to deny something so obvious?  The closed mind will bend all facts to fit one's view.  It is sad that there are still millions who reject what science has been warning about for decades, but it is a reminder of the limits of persuasion.  Eventually governments have to override the objections and act with the understanding that the opposition will remain unconvinced.  Failure to communicate effectively is a sad outcome but one that will not disappear.  

Food ads are subjects of lawsuits over the difference between the image of a product and its actual size.  Burger King is in legal crosshairs over the appearance and actuality of its Whopper sandwich.  The claims are that photos show double the meat over what is served.  Burger King countered that the amount of ground meat in their burgers is exactly what is shown in its photos.  The lawsuits will play out in court or in settlement talks.  How does this happen?  Marketers push the edge of puffery too far and hero shots of products are made to look like more than they are.  It is hard to get away with that in the internet era as the lawsuits demonstrate.  It is better now to show a product that looks slightly less than what it is so the customer is positively surprised.  But that has always been true.  It's just that marketers consider it heresy.