Crisis Management

Putting the Bold in Diebold

California's secretary of state said "they broke the law," called their conduct "absolutely reprehensible," and banned their machines in four counties, but maybe the news isn't all bad for e-voting company Diebold Election Systems. "It could affect the stock for a week or two," said corporate branding executive Clayton Tolley, but "generally, it's a passing fad that will fade within six months." Diebold spokesperson Mike Jacobsen pointed out "we're a business-to-business firm...

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US Image Czar Jumps Ship, Again...

Was it the horrifiic images of US soldiers torturing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners that caused the announcement? If so, no mention was made of it when "Margaret D. Tutwiler, the State Department veteran who was summoned from abroad to overhaul the public diplomacy effort, said Thursday that she was resigning to take a position at the New York Stock Exchange.

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Like a Bridge over Troubled Blackwater

"They did not go out looking for the publicity and did not ask for everything that happened to them," said a spokesperson for Alexander Strategy Group, defending their new client, Blackwater USA. Blackwater is the private military firm that's faced increasing scrutiny from members of congress, the media and the general public following the killing of four of its contractors in Fallujah, Iraq last month.

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Teed Off at Augusta

Crisis management PR pro Jim McCarthy says his clients have run afoul of "the media/ activist industrial complex." Case in point: Augusta National hired McCarthy when Martha Burk challenged the golf club's policy of not admitting women members. But McCarthy's prime target wasn't Burk: "Stopping The New York Times dead in its tracks was critical...

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A Case of Early Chicken Counting?

At the upcoming meeting of the Public Relations Society of America, "the Washington Beef Commission will unveil how it turned the PR nightmare discovery of Mad Cow... into an opportunity to educate the public about the hype surrounding the disease." According to meatingplace.com, the Japanese government isn't buying the U.S.

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Bad Times for Brand Martha

"Company founders have long believed that placing their name on their company signals their willingness to stake their personal reputation and stand behind their products," observes the University of Pennsylvania's business school. "That's fine when things are going well and the company and the CEO whose name it bears are held in high regard. But what if the CEO falls from grace? What happens to a company if the CEO's name is in effect its brand o and then that name is tarnished?

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'Anti-Chemical' = Pro-Public Health

"Industry officials are expressing grave concern that a growing alliance between environmentalists and patient advocacy groups to link exposure to harmful pollution with chronic diseases and life-long disabilities could add credibility to activists' calls for stricter environmental requirements," Inside EPA reports.

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