Think Before You Speak

PR gaffes have been front page news these days … or first screen news if you’re part of the digital generation. BP CEO Tony Hayward is becoming a case study in what not to say and do during a crisis, and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal has been relieved of his command following a profile in Rolling Stone that painted an unflattering portrait of some members of the Obama administration.

Hayward’s missteps started right after the Gulf oil rig explosion, when he tried to deflect blame by saying, "The drilling rig was a Transocean drilling rig. It was their rig and their equipment that failed, run by their people and their processes." His problems escalated from there, when he explained that the impact would be minimized because, "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean.” I could go, but you get the picture.

As for McChrystal, you could parse the profile and conclude that he didn’t say anything that was too damaging. But any number of unnamed “aides” and anonymous sources made critical comments about government leaders and diplomats. His biggest mistake was probably agreeing to do the profile in the first place, especially with an edgy, counter-culture publication. Granted, Rolling Stone’s approach has matured over the last 40 years, but he still couldn’t (or shouldn’t) have thought they were going to write a “puff piece.”

While most of us will never face problems like stopping an oil leak of unprecedented proportions or running a war in a distant land, these recent PR blunders offer lessons to businesses of any size. We live in an environment where the 24-hour news cycle of printed media has been replaced by the 60-second news cycle of constant website updates, blogs, tweets and YouTube videos.

That means you must have a plan for the media and PR impact of everything from a full-blown crisis to negative reaction to something that you’ve done with the best of intentions. Everyone seems to be demanding transparency but it has become a two-edged sword. Two examples from BP highlight the dilemma.

Accused of hiding the damage from the oil leak, BP decided to provide a live video feed from the seabed to show the efforts they were taking to quell the oil flow. Some critics then turned around and used the video as a constant reminder that the oil was still spouting. And when the company began to aggressively advertise the steps they were taking to solve the problem, President Obama criticized them for spending the money on communications rather than the cleanup. It calls to mind the old saying, “You’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”

There’s no perfect solution in some of these situations, but if you’d like some advice on your communications options, give me a call. PR is not just about blasting your story to the world. Sometimes, knowing what not to say is equally important.