Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

The diesel emissions nightmare at Volkswagen continues unabated as the German government orders the company to recall 2.4 million vehicles next year. To recap, the company has admitted to cheating on emissions tests on up to 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide. The global CEO has resigned, the new North American head departed before even starting, its share value has dropped by over 30% and VW Group sales have plummeted.

Some estimates say this could cost the company in the region of 35 billion euros, and all but destroy the consumer market for diesel vehicles.

This scenario has all the makings of a classic PR crisis, but so far most would consider VW’s communications efforts a fail. Weeks into the scandal consumers who purchased one of the diesel vehicles still do not know what, if any action they should take. Dealers are left scrambling on the front lines without the facts or even a narrative on VW plans. For employees, suppliers and shareholders there is also confusion around how the corporate parent plans to navigate through the crisis. Lawyers smell blood and are circling both in North America and Europe....

Sometimes the smartest brands use content marketing in a remarkably dangerous and stupid way. Case in point: Coca Cola's recent sneaky gambit, employing nutritionist bloggers to sell the iconic soft drink as a heart-smart snack.
Last month, nutritionists paid by the beverage mega-giant were touting mini-cans of Coke as a healthy snack option in online columns, radio commentary and print. Making the whole thing particularly odious, this paid content was insinuated into stories about February's Heart Health and Black History Month. 

Without shame, the world's largest beverage company has admitted to paying to push mini-cans of Coke as a part of a healthy diet, arguing the marketing ploy is simply a version of “product placement.” A  Coca-Cola spokesman told the Associated Press that the semi-stealth effort was what virtually all brands do to shine a positive light on their respective products....

Edelman is usually tapped with helping brands avoid or disentangle themselves from public backlash, but the global PR firm instead found itself in the hot seat this week.

At issue was a blog post from media relations strategy evp Lisa Kovitz, who said the suicide of comedian Robin Williams created a PR opportunity for groups advocating for better treatment of mental illness. 

"As we mourn the loss of Robin Williams to depression, we must recognize it as an opportunity to engage in a national conversation," she wrote. "His death yesterday created a carpe diem moment for mental health professionals and those people who have suffered with depression and want to make a point about the condition and the system that treats it."

While she certainly has a point about such a high-profile tragedy bringing mental health and depression into the spotlight, quite a few readers found the post to be in poor taste....

Back in 2004, media and TV personality Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in jail for obstructing a federal securities investigation.

To pass the time during her incarceration, Stewart did what she does best: cooking and crafts.

Speaking at a Daily Mail brunch session at the Cannes Lions advertising festival on Thursday, Stewart said the food inside was around three years past its expiry date.

"That's why I made jam out of the crab apples on the trees," she added.

Aside from making jam, Stewart also turned her hand to ceramics. As a child she'd go to ceramic classes at the weekend, so she quickly signed up to a ceramics class in prison too, at a place called Alderson....

We suppose it is possible for the Department of State to screw up the handling of questions about whether they lied to reporters even worse — but it is hard to figure out how.

The video below from CNN’s Jake Tapper today nicely lays out the series of offenses — but here is our quick summary:

In February 2013 Fox News correspondent James Rosen asked then State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland if there had been direct talks between the U.S. and Iran.  She essentially said “NO.”

In December 2013, Rosen points out to Nuland’s successor Jen Psaki that the correct answer would have been “YES” and asked if State routinely lied to reporters when they found it convenient. Psaki with a smirk said there are times when diplomacy needs privacy to succeed. (Translation: yes, we lied)....

Burger King took out a full-page, open-letter-style ad in The New York Times and Chicago Tribune this morning, calling for a truce with McDonald's and suggesting they join forces to create a "McWhopper" burger.

But McDonald's is having none of it.Burger King's idea was to "get the world talking" about the Peace One Day charity, which is lobbying for September 21 to become an official Peace Day. Fernando Machado, the fast-food chain's senior vice president for global brand management, said it wasn't just a PR stunt and that BK was hoping McDonald's would agree to sell the hybrid burger September 21....

The Fort Bend Sheriff's Office just sent a press release to news outlets all over Texas that revealed the credit card, checking account, Social Security, and driver's license numbers of hundreds of people. You see, the email contained a photo of these items that were kept in a lost and found room at the Santikos Palladium theaters in Richmond.

A few seconds later, the Sheriff's Office sent another email saying that, on second thought, maybe that wasn't such a great idea.

Pay close attention while we walk you through this: According to the original email, an off-duty Sheriff's detective was working security at the Palladium when he "discovered several boxes and bags containing numerous wallets, 171 driver's licenses, more than a dozen Social Security cards, several hundred credit and debit cards, and more than a dozen checkbooks."...

There are a few universal truths in online dating: most photos are carefully staged, most profiles are slightly puffed-up, and most people on them (and this is clearly fast-changing) are actually human.Until some unlucky Tinder users spotted Ava.

A company promoting the movie Ex Machina created a fake account, Ava, with a photo of the star of the movie. Ava is an AI in the film and presumably she wants to get down. Unsuspecting men and women swiped to make a match and Ava, in a cross between cheesy AI and Eliza, asked a few pertinent questions including “Have you ever been in love?” and “What makes you human?”

Normal users assumed they were talking to a human but they were actually talking to a bot. In the end, like the chatbots that now linger on near dead chat systems like AIM, Ava sent her suitors to an Instagram page where they found out that she was all a sham....

Businesses and celebrities are supposed to be professional, so why are there constantly mistakes being made, sometimes by even the largest of companies? Well, the answer is because there’s a human behind those Facebook post and endless tweets.

From bad grammar to getting visibly frustrated and engaging in flame wars, there are lessons to be learned from the social media faux pas of others....