About a month ago, the Catholic church hired a PR firm to help with its image after the kiddie molestation fiasco. The PR firm had also done work for Enron and several other corporations that were undergoing massively bad (and totally deserved) publicity.
Why?
As in, why did they hire the PR firm? Let’s face it, I haven’t heard a single good thing about Enron or the other companies the PR firm worked for (I can’t remember the other ones off the top of my head, but they were of the same caliber of screw ups).
So how can you possibly “spin” these types of fiascos into anything remotely positive? Why bother? And what does the PR company actually do for them? Make ads saying, “Hey, we finally decided that a priest can only molest ONE child. More than that and we consider moving him away from other kiddies. We’re the NEW Catholic Church!” Or “Enron. We’re telling the truth when we say Kenny Lay is broke. And he really didn’t have anything to do with stealing the election for his buddy GWB so he could stay out of jail.”
Spin is a small part of what we do. If a client is willing to listen, a good PR firm can do a lot more than make ads for the “new” whatever.
One of the most important things I do with my clients is to tell them, bluntly if necessary, whether what they say during a crisis will be acceptable or not to the people they’re trying to convince. You’d be surprised at the number of executives who think they can talk their way out of a problem without actually doing anything. Sometimes it takes a PR counselor to tell them they’re wrong.
PR is also the yang to the lawyers’ yin. Lawyers counsel their clients not to say anything, since that can only get them into trouble. PR counsels clients to say everything up to the point where a lawyer drags them away.
And finally, when the client does do something positive (or at least corrective) we try to get that out to the public, as well.
Your post suggests these folk are hiring a conscience. I suppose it’s necessary in many cases. But I find it especially amusing that the Catholic Church seems to feel the need to di the same.
For citing, sorry, got the info from an NPR news story where they interviewed the PR agency. And I don’t think PR uses is for great debate section.
As for the other comments, I agree, it does seem like hiring a conscience. Amazing how they can’t figure some things out on their own. Do you think it can have any beneficial effects for companies like Enron (or now, Worldcom, Xerox, etc.) The chuch will obviously survive, but are the Enron/Worldcoms of the world throwing good money after bad? I don’t care WHAT they do, I’ll never think positively of those companies again, and they certainly won’t get my investment capital.
That’s somewhat like asking why a criminal defendant would want legal representation in court, even though the evidence stacked against him is substantial.
Just like every other business, some are scummier than others. For the most part, PR firms won’t invent something, but they will run with it.
PR counselor: How’d this happen anyway?
CEO: Hell, I don’t know. I don’t read the financial statements, just the summaries. That’s why I have a CFO!"
PR counselor: So are you saying the CFO wasn’t doing his job?
Note that the correct answer is that NEITHER the CFO nor the CEO were doing their jobs. That’s where the spin comes in.
On behalf of ethical PR people everywhere, I must point out that during the Ford Explorer/Firestone fiasco a couple of years ago, Firestone hired a very powerful, very expensive PR firm. Within two weeks, the PR firm resigned the account. Apparently there are some lines that won’t be crossed.
my point - the issue was heard in the courts, not in general discussion - I would have expected the resale value of the Explorer to be near zero - so, what happened?
Remember the Audi 5000? (bad example, I know - but the spin to place the problem on the tires, instead of the intrinsic instability of the machine was quite impressive.)
I can’t believe people are still packing their kids into these things and zipping down the fwy (yeah, new tires - no more problem - right…)
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