Who Had the Worst Week?

• Mattel has apologized for printing the URL of a porn site on the packaging of its line of dolls for the movie “Wicked.” Mattel may be a toy manufacturer, but it doesn’t make those kind of toys, and it intended instead to drive consumers to the website for the movie.
• The FAA has banned U.S. flights to Haiti after a Spirit Airlines flight was hit by gunfire that injured a flight attendant. The U.S. State Department has warned of “gang-led efforts” to stop travel to the country. 
• The PR firm Havas cautioned investors that its work for fossil fuel companies, defense contractors, and alcohol and tobacco companies has created financial risk for the agency and acknowledged that negative publicity and harm to its reputation may hurt its ability to attract and retain clients and employees.
• UCHealth has agreed to pay $23 million to settle claims that it systemically over-billed the federal government for care.
• Former Denver Broncos defensive coordinator and interim head coach Jack Del Rio has resigned from his position as a member of the University of Wisconsin football coaching staff after he was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
• Amnesty International is demanding that FIFA halt the process that would award Saudi Arabia as the host of the 2034 World Cup due to the country’s human rights violations. Saudi Arabia currently is the only bidder for the 2034 games.
• Tennis Channel analyst Jon Wertheim has been removed from his position at least temporarily after he made unflattering remarks about the appearance of women’s singles player Barbora Krejcikova not realizing he was on air.
• Bill Husted, the former gossip columnist who worked at times for both The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, passed away at the age of 76. Husted was a throwback to a different era in Denver when his newspaper column was a must-read.
• The celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has apologized and removed his latest children’s book from store shelves after critics objected to his stereotyped depictions of Indigenous Australians.
• The Onion now owns Alex Jones‘ Infowars. That is not an Onion headline. Well, I guess it is, but it is true.
• More than 150 pronghorn have been hit and killed by cars on the eastern plains of Colorado following last week’s heavy snowstorm. The snow drove many pronghorn onto roads and they cannot get back due to heavy snow drifts.
• Wyatts Towing, arguably the most hated business in the state, has shut down following a $1 million settlement reached with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
• Eric Anderson from SE2 nominates legacy media as having had the worst week following the outcome of the presidential election and the credit given to micro-influencers. He noted, “Exhausted political reporters are waking up to questions about whether the sun has set on the influence of legacy media outlets, at least when it comes to national politics.”
• American tennis star Frances Tiafoe has been fined $120,000 for swearing repeatedly at an umpire during last month’s Shanghai Masters tennis tournament.
• A Virginia dad taking his family on an RV vacation racked up $569 in highway tolls in just 45 miles. It turns out that VDOT‘s sign – “HIGHER TOLLS FOR LARGER VEHICLES” – was a bit of an understatement.

Who won the week?

• Boulder-based agency Comprise has opened an office in Atlanta.
• Malen Yantis Public Relations is repping the Hotel Polaris at the U.S. Air Force Academy, which opened this week.
• PBS12 welcomed Bobby Springer as its new president and GM. Springer formerly held positions with 9News and TEGNA.
• Actor John Krasinski – best known as Jim from “The Office” – has been named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2024.