Amy Linert » Public Relations http://amylinert.com Public Relations, SEO, Social, Phoenix Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:27:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Wow! What a week for PR no-no’s. http://amylinert.com/2011/12/01/wow-what-a-week-for-pr-no-no%e2%80%99s/ http://amylinert.com/2011/12/01/wow-what-a-week-for-pr-no-no%e2%80%99s/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:24:26 +0000 AmyLinert http://amylinert.com/?p=65 Wow! What a week for PR no-no’s.

Two stories on bad PR moves. The first about a long-time PR practitioner posting not-so-nice comments about special needs, and reacting in what we teach out clients not to do. The second about a South African condom company who took vulgarity too far, and at the worst possible time.

A Rose Wilts

Locally in the Arizona market, well known ( and not always well liked) Jason Rose was fired as a representative for Special Olympics Arizona for posting insensitive comments on Twitter surrounding special needs. A full story can be read on State of the 48 - Rose Fired.

With social media, everyone can forget at times that though they have personal accounts, and mention such in their profiles (mine included), those in the PR/Marketing industry still represent the goals and initiatives of their clients. Personal accounts shouldn’t be locked down and held accountable for everything posted, but precautions and a realization that posts are public, should still be heeded. While I’m sure Jason didn’t conduct a checklist of before he posted:

• Do I have clients that will be upset?
• Does this go against a positive image I’m representing?
• Is this harmful?

Fueling the issue was the response once it was picked up – “I meant the opposite.” As PR practitioners we drill our clients to take a step back before responding and make it accurate, meaningful and take some sort of action towards a goal (changing behavior, acknowledging a breakdown, etc). Rose knows controversy and issues management better than most, I’m sure. He should have taken his own advice.

But there is a hero in this story, Special Olympics themselves. They held steadfast to their mission and values and severed ties quickly with Rose. A beautiful statement that abuse, ignorance and neglect of any kind will be tolerate on any level.

Lesson: Hold fast to values and missions, and don’t tolerate anything less – your PR person or not.
The second is Durex – a condom brand from South Africa. Memeburn.com wrote a great summary of the issue: http://memeburn.com/2011/11/durex-social-media-cock-up-is-no-joke/
((COPY COMING))

]]> http://amylinert.com/2011/12/01/wow-what-a-week-for-pr-no-no%e2%80%99s/feed/ 0 Proof I was a PR freak early on http://amylinert.com/2011/10/06/50/ http://amylinert.com/2011/10/06/50/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:51:38 +0000 AmyLinert http://amylinert.com/?p=50 People ask how long I’ve been in Public Relations, and I say “for life.” But when I actually stop and think about the actual years, it’s coming on 7 years. And there’s proof about my passion. In college at Arizona State University, I was part of group that was the foundation for what the current ASU agency is. Proof: http://cronkitecommunications.blogspot.com/2004/11/about-cc.html
Reading over the bios, I remember sitting in Dr. T’s office and writing/editing those. At the time, that was amazing writing!

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