Groupon-gate

Relatively new, inconspicuous companies have an important goal when introduced to the market- to notably position your brand and get your company known. Advertisers and PR reps stretch their morality thin concocting ads and publicity that will be memorable, infamously or not. Queue the cliché, “Any press is good press.”

Groupon is a company that was essentially invisible before they kicked down the doors of decency during the Superbowl XLV. Their parody to the suffering of Tibet was supposedly used to poke fun at their business, one that survives off trivial spending. Millions of viewers didn’t see the juxtaposition in such a comedic light and Groupon was castigated for their poor taste, eventually pulling all of the ads.

Their PR team had to have warned them of risky and unattractive consequences. There are questions and concerns that should have been addressed before airing.

- How many people have an emotional investment with Tibet and other grass-root organizations

- Is our advocacy for these organizations evident in the ads

- What kind of an image will we assume

- Will this be easy to fix

- Is it worth it?

Cleaning up this mess looked like a field trip to hell. Seemingly, media attention was more important for Groupon than brand image. Although, in 2011, all media is global media and marketing strategies must be designed to acknowledge that. I think the backlash was more than Groupon expected, because their crisis management wasn’t too solid. There were many routes that could have been taken yet their response didn’t seem thought out. The letter from Andrew Mason, Groupon’s CEO, assured that any damage done wasn’t intended and his angle for the ad was to be funny. He went on to point the blame at the ad agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, for their tendency to add controversy to their creativity. His words were defensive and poorly executed and Mason was criticized for it. Instead of implying “you’re just too stupid to get the humor,” he should have carried a more sympathetic tone. It’s important to understand the differences between values and ethics of other people, especially when you’re attempting to sell to a huge audience of key publics.

Now Groupon is better known and their business seems steady, at least in America. On the other hand, Groupon’s image isn’t exactly favorable by the masses just yet. Whether it’s the interesting approach to humor or indifference for sensitivity, the company was careless with it’s first major ad campaign. The role of PR in a campaign is especially crucial during the Superbowl; what people are saying the next day is what really matters. Either the PR reps were ignored or they were slacking.

Sumptuous Spam for the Swanky Show-Boaters

Crisis struck Carnival. The well-known cruise line had a mishap when the engine room fell victim to a fire, damaging the switchboard that generates electricity throughout the ship, including the propulsion motors. The massive ship carrying more than 4,000 people was left wafting helplessly in the middle of the Pacific. I bet the heads of the PR team were spinning.

Besides relentless and original puns (the poor ship had to be named Splendor), the media has flooded with reports of irate passengers. While they have every right to grind their gears, the complaining is getting a little ridiculous. There were even pictures of people with t-shirts that read “Next Stop, Daily Show.” Obnoxious. I understand the passengers were expecting a splendid vacation (see. I’m one of them now) and wound up in mayhem: No electricity, limited toilets, and a mass of people that probably smell, but couldn’t there be worse situations to be stranded? You’re on a cruise, with the people you love, on an ocean, with a…questionable…food supply, but a food supply nonetheless! Not to mention a casino open for the taking, and the cruise line is offering full refunds and reimbursements of travel costs (including free hotel and flights), plus a free cruise in the future.

The PR for Carnival is doing impressively well, contacting the media in a timely manner, not projecting any of the blame to anyone else, staying hip with Facebook and Twitter as a “push” medium. Any “pull” information Carnival receives at this point in time will be formerly established grievances.

The cause of the fire is still unreported, leaving everyone wondering if it was negligence or freak accident. These things happen, and you must be prepared. The fault obviously lies on the design engineers, as every operational detail should not rest on a single electrical board. Seeing as we’re beyond that, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it now, we must focus on the PR. I congratulate their efforts and calming manner. Some criticize for not showing enough empathy, rather too many facts, and I couldn’t disagree more; offering too much empathy risks vulnerability to mass slander. In fact, they’re executing the route publicists should be taking so we can finally steer away from a negative connotation. We don’t spin, we present facts and Carnival has honored that.

Obama Drama

People are talking about Obama's decision to offer waivers to mega-corporations for the new healthcare legislation like gossip hour at a gay tea party. It's everywhere. And people can't make sense of it. PR to the rescue! Maybe.

The president has found himself in a PR pickle. It's fair to speculate this is one of the most hated presidents in office in some time. His decline of popularity during the first year in office was worse than any other president in recorded history, just under 50 percent. I guess this objective statistic would suggest we have a hideously incompetent monster leading us...if one actually rests faith on the judgment of our American people. As offensive, or insulting this may seem--I am not comforted by the flagrant display of ignorance I see every day....CBS News wrote a great article talking about the expectations and inevitable "failure" Obama was set up for since the beginning. I don't need to remind people what the 43rd administration left behind, insurmountable to tackle. So with the gumption to take on this preposterous task.... Obama’s options were....what??

His decision for mandatory healthcare was refuted by big corporations like McDonalds that proclaimed they would "re-evaluate their plans" regarding their employee health insurance if they did not get a waiver. Obama's choice was literally between raising healthcare costs, or no health insurance at all. So he offered exemptions that will allow 30 companies to pay below the minimum annual benefit in low-cost insurance plans.

There are two perspectives to this situation. McDonalds and the United Federation of Teachers represent a portion of the 1 million people, the very worthy and deserving people, which would lose their insurance. Small business owners are furious that they didn't get a healthcare waiver as opposed to mega-corporations. But it's not about them. It's about the little person, the worker, the one that's earning the business owner's profit for them. Secondly, the congressional election is approaching in early November, and with such steep popularity, there's a chance Obama will be politically overrun by Republicans. All effort is futile. Sigh....

His PR guy probably has more gray hair and frown lines than Obama. How do you deal with this? Infuriate 1 million people that lost their insurance they rightfully need, or continue to piss off all of the people that have always been blogging and tweeting "nobama" hate messages, while they sit on their golden toilet made of full-coverage PPO plans. There's no way around it, you're absolutely going to enrage legions of people. I congratulate his decision, sticking to the ideals and priorities he spoke about since running. I have the utmost respect for political PR reps.