In the modern age of the Internet, companies need to think carefully when it comes to interacting with the public. That’s the role of the professional communicator, helping spread an organization’s messages to the world. Centennial College's Public Relations programs turn you into one of those communicators, giving you practical skills and helping you build a portfolio of experience.
At its core, public relations teaches you how to communicate well with other people, but on a large scale. This means that you can learn how to use public relations in your personal life, on top of your professional one. It’s especially important for when a company makes a big mistake, something a PR professional wouldn’t allow to happen. Forbes, Ground Floor Media and Ranker covered last year’s biggest public relations mistakes, but rather than just list them out, let’s look at what these mistakes can teach us, and what our Public Relations program can show you how to do.
1. Apologizing when you’ve done something wrong
We all remember United Airlines literally dragging a passenger off a flight, bloody nose and all. It wasn’t the only bad thing that happened with the company last year, but the fact that it came with a viral video certainly made it the most visible one. Their problem was in the response. Initially, the CEO himself, Oscar Munoz, apologized for, of all things, “having to re-accommodate these customers” rather than anything else, including the rough treatment of the passenger. It’s important to respond quickly, take control, and actively admit when a mistake was made. That’s the golden rule, really. Mistakes are going to happen, and it’s important that when you make them, you admit to it, and apologize.
2. Considering social implications
It’s important to consider the issues of the world we live in when you’re sending a message. For example, last year, soapmaker Dove posted a simple three-second video clip online as an ad. The problem was, it depicted a black woman taking her shirt off, then becoming a white woman, meaning they dove nose-first into a hotbed of racial issues. Unlike United, they apologized, but the damage was done.
Nikon similarly didn’t consider diversity, when in 2017, it launched its newest DSLR camera and promoted it by giving free advance copies of the camera to 32 photographers from around the world…all of which were men in an industry where it’s hard for women to find equal footing. In PR, this is called considering the “optics.”
3. Talking about tragedies and social issues can backfire. Do your research!
In 2013, there was a tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon that left three people dead. In 2017, sporting goods company Adidas wanted to congratulate that year’s winners. They sent out a tweet, congratulating them for “surviving” the marathon. Needless to say, it didn’t go over well. Nonetheless, they quickly released a detailed apology, showing, again, how to respond correctly.
Or what about that notorious Pepsi ad? It featured Instagram-famous model Kendal Jenner and tried to tie Pepsi into anti-racism protests happening throughout the US. It received such negative feedback and mockery from basically everyone for perceived tone-deafness in the wake of the actual events that it was pulled shortly after.
Wendy’s restaurants have run a popular twitter account for a long time now, through communicating in a sarcastic, humorous manner that’s appealing to Internet culture. Generally, it worked, until it didn’t, when they posted a reaction image of cartoon character Pepe the Frog, not realizing that hate speech groups had co-opted the image. They deleted their tweet, but it was promptly screenshotted.
The key takeaway from all of these incidents isn’t that you shouldn’t weigh in on issues, just to make sure that your opinion is an informed one, before you put your foot in your mouth. Speaking of which…
4. Being polite when you’re in the public eye.
Today, everyone has a video camera in their pocket. For example, consider Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, was the subject of a viral video where he, of all things, yelled at a cab driver after a ride, accusing him of not taking responsibility. It only takes one rant to give you a bad image.
Another example would be Snapchat’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, who, in 2015, brushed off increasing the company’s support overseas by saying he didn’t want to branch into “poor countries like India and Spain.” It was in the middle of a meeting, but it was a public meeting, and the comments went viral in 2017. Going back to that apologizing thing, they decided to throw the leaker, Anthony Pompliano, under the bus, calling him a bad employee they fired, rather than simply own up to their mistake. The lesson learned: The more you’re in the public eye, the more you need to watch your words.