Week 4: Not So Golden Silence

Last week the Susan G. Komen foundation made a big ol' PR NO-NO. If you've been living under a bridge... Basically Karen Handal, a VP of Komen political policy led the movement to stop funding to Planned Parenthood for mammograms and clinical breast exams. They made the decision to do so saying the foundation was adopting new standards. This decision was met with so much controversy, the issue immediately became a PR nightmare. 

All politics aside... Komen handled this situation so poorly it was quite obvious they did not have a crisis plan established. Anything would have been better than how they handled this.

Their biggest mistake? Basically going silent on all social media forms. They had no control of the story and most importantly the conversation. Komen issued a weak and insufficient news release which gave a bunch of educational information and numbers, but basically put their hands up as though to say "I dont know what you want us to say? We're backed into a corner."

 Instead of addressing the mass amounts of negative feedback on their Facebook, Komen simply deleted them. Their Twitter updates were links to their news releases. There was no conversation. No new information. No action taken. No acknowledgment of the fact that the decision was clearly going to have to be reconsidered.

As Komen is basically the top dog in non-profit organizations, the damaging result of this fiasco extends beyond this specific issue. Supporters of Planned Parenthood basically bullied them into revoking their funding policy change. This will absolutely be damaging to their credibility and trust as a leader in the non-profit world. If they can be bullied and scared so quickly. It's difficult to view Komen with the same credibility as prior to this incident.

The damage control they attempted was just too late. Now extreme measures are being taken. Handal stepped down from her position with the organization. Those who donated because of the decision to no longer support Planned Parenthood wanted their money back. This is a nightmare that could have been avoided with a proper PR crisis plan and someone willing to step up to the plate instead of letting the conversation take place without them.

Komen "PinkWashing" Cartoon: