Online Public Relations Thoughts

One President and two former presidents in one room is a symbolic way of calling for party unity, something Biden needs if he is to be reelected.  It's PR by presence.  

I guess no one told former President Trump that selling bibles to raise money is simony.

The US warned Russia that a terrorist attack was imminent.  Putin dismissed the warning and called it a "provocative statement."  More than 130 Russian citizens lost their lives in the worst assault in decades. Chances are that Putin's mistake won't be held against him because he controls all the media outlets in the country and he can bury it -- which he will do.  A dictator has the benefit of absolute communications control.  He can propagate lies and misinformation at will.  Putin is a master of media and the Russian people apparently believe him as he buffs his image. Citizens will learn the truth someday but not any time soon. And, that's sad. 

Chick-Fil-A has decided to break its decade-old pledge of serving chicken that has never been treated with antibiotics.  Its reasoning is simple -- available supply.  The company can't get enough antibiotic free "cluckers" to keep its restaurants going.  What it hasn't determined yet is what the public thinks about backtracking from its earlier stance.  It's about to find out.  The decision could by a PR disaster or a yawn. There is no way at this juncture to tell how the public will react.  The company is going to find out the hard way.  

 Apple has been thrown into a PR and legal crisis with the Justice department lawsuit against it.  The company says it will defend itself vigorously but at the cost of reputation as allegations are fleshed out and news reports fill in details.  The company's protection of its code and access to apps has benefitted customers at the expense of third-parity developers who have long complained about Apple's closed system.  Now the law will have its turn and for years into the future the case will plod along to a settlement or a courtroom decision. 

Whenever we think race relations have improved and the message of equality has been heard,  we have rude reminders that we still have a long way to go.  This case was horrific and the officers involved deserve their decades-long punishment.  It should send another message to law enforcement that old ways of brutality and torture are no longer acceptable.  It should, but will it? 

It's a race between Tesla and Porsche as to who gets the boasting rights for the fastest EV.  It's going to absurd lengths.  

Former President Trump's attorneys are right in saying they don't want to try the classified documents case in the media, but this CNN interview is damning.  Trump might be itching to respond, but apparently his lawyers have been successful in muzzling him.  

Now the British royals are being victimized by fake photography -- or it would seem so.   AP withdrew a picture of the Princess of Wales and her children over concerns that the image was photoshopped.  This raised a huge stink and worldwide news.  No one is safe anymore from manipulated imagery.  It is one more hazard of communications and PR. 

I couldn't sleep last night after Biden's State of the Union speech.  It was a fiery presentation that laid to rest fears of a doddering old man running for a second term.  Democrats in the chamber were ecstatic.  Republicans were in stony silence.  Only a few times in the hour and a half did Biden's lifelong battle with stuttering appear.  The speech proved once again that he is an able communicator, a talent he will need in a tough reelection battle.

I'm back from a week-long visit to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA.  The change in tourist communications was noticeable from prior visits years ago.  Now, guides stress the burden of slavery and its economic impact on the South.  Previously, they conjured a romantic image of the aristocratic Old South before the Civil War -- easy to do in the dreamscapes of the two towns.  The new museum in Charleston dedicated to slavery and its effects doesn't hide the evil but also highlights the culture brought and created by Africans in the New World  -- a must-see.  The museum is built on the old wharf where slaves were landed and prepared for auction.  Savannah appears not to have moved as far down the path of recognition as Charleston, but Tybee Island, 18 miles from downtown Savannah has documented the "Wade-ins" by young African Americans to desegregate the beaches there.  It was an instructive visit to a culture still foreign to Northerners but much changed.