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: 

Week 2: Killing Your Phone

I am a member of the "technology generation." Otherwise referred to as the "Millennial Generation," "Generation Y," or the "Net Generation." I remember the trip to sign up for my first cell phone, and the freedom it meant from my parent's ability to monitor my home phone line... AKA conversations with my friends and boys. I could not drive yet so it was truly my first individual connection to the world sans parental guidelines. It meant freedom.

But what do our phones mean to us now? William Powers describes our phones as our "prison keepers." They keep us connected to everyone we know, store names, phone numbers, addresses, emails, and play a large part in many's source of income. We are expected to have them on us at all times and if not immediately acceptable to the person intending to contact you, to be so in a socially accepted amount of time.

Powers describes a terrifying incident when as a novice boat owner, when he went overboard... Phone in pocket. Prior to going overboard, he was physically alone on the boat, however he still felt connected to the world with a quick fingertip. Once he accepted his phone in fact had died from the accidental drowning and there was no possible way of performing CPR, he realized he was then truly alone. Why does alone have such a negative connotation? At what point did we become so reliant on being tied to this prison of technology? My first phone symbolized freedom. Now my phone binds me to my responsibilities as an adult.

So while killing your phone may be too extreme a measure... When is it safe to disconnect for a little alone time? From the PR/Ad perspective, I'm terrified to say never. Imagine a PR crisis breaks out at 11PM on a Friday night. You've attempted to disconnect for the weekend, and reconnect on Monday morning. That's two whole days your client has gone without addressing the crisis... Or worse, someone else incorrectly handles it, making your job twice as hard. So where do we draw a line between the imprisonment of our phones and our freedom?

For those prone to accidental drownings of their smart phone:
As with everything else, technology and science have now improved our ability for constant communication in our technology prison. I would compare this development to floaties for your phone. You can now completely submerge your phone in water... without missing a single text.
http://tech.lifegoesstrong.com/article/how-waterproof-your-smart-phone