Bud Light is playing defense today after its #UpForWhatever labels “evoked concerns about alcohol-fueled rape culture.”

Indiana’s Economic Development Corp. and Office of Tourism Development has hired public relations firm Porter Novelli to help “restore Indiana’s image after the recent controversy surrounding” the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The account appears to be $1 million over two years.

The Wall Street Journal spoke to crisis experts at Golin and Weber Shandwick, both of whom gave Lufthansa high marks for their response to the recent Germanwings crash: Continue reading “Crisis Experts Praise Lufthansa” →

New York Knicks owner James Dolan – also the president and CEO of Cablevision –  goes full Dick Montfort on a longtime fan who questioned his competence in an email:

Mr Bierman

You are a sad person. Why would anybody write such a hateful letter. I am.just guessing but ill bet your life is a mess and you are a hateful mess. What have you done that anyone would consider positive or nice. I am betting nothing. In fact ill bet you are negative force in everyone who comes in contact with you. You most likely have made your family miserable. Alcoholic maybe. I just celebrated my 21 year anniversary of sobriety. You should try it. Maybe it will help you become a person that folks would like to have around. In the mean while start rooting.for the Nets because the Knicks dont want you.

Respectfully

James Dolan

Ford is recalling the 2015 Lincoln MKC because it placed the start-stop engine button too close to other buttons, and drivers are inadvertantly shutting off the car while driving. The good news for Ford? It only sold 13,500 of the cars so far, so the recall is manageable.

Restaurant chain Chili’s is playing some defense after it apparently failed to conduct its due diligence before agreeing to support the National Autism Association, a non-profit group that has linked vaccinations to autism in some cases. Chili’s announced on its Facebook page that it has canceled the fundraiser that would have donated 10 percent of today’s proceeds to the NAA.

When General Motors named Mary Barra its first female CEO three months ago, who knew the biggest hurdle she would likely face would be trying to undo the damage done by her predecessors? For all of her business acumen, it may simply be her likability and sense of trustworthiness that determines whether she survives.

Forbes, among many others, gives her credit for navigating the crisis with aplomb:

… Ms. Barra struck exactly the right tone: calm, in control, honestly sympathetic, yet not going to be pushed into a statement she did not want to make. She was unfailingly polite, and seemed dedicated to finding out the truth, and then to addressing it head-on. She did not grandstand nor was she flustered; she did not defer nor did she deflect the criticism, but she did stand up to her questioners when they were not clear, in a way that was neither angry, nor defensive, nor subservient.

Last December, Rutgers University officials – including its President and Athletic Director – watched this video of its head basketball coach verbally and physically abusing players and thought a three-game suspension and fine was appropriate punishment.

Now, the world has seen it, and it is only a matter of time before Rutgers fires the coach. The question is how long they will allow their brand to twist in the wind before they finally do it. Free PR tip: quicker is better.

UPDATE: Rutgers made the classic public relations mistake of only dealing with part of the issue when it fired the coach on Wednesday morning. Had Rutgers also fired the athletic director who knew about the abuses months ago and did little, it would have dealt with the issue in one swift moment. Instead, the attention will now turn to the athletic director instead of simply dissipating.

UPDATE II: It took 24 hours for Rutgers to fire the coach, and an additional two days for the athletic director to “resign.”

Lance Armstrong’s confession to Oprah Winfrey that he used performance-enhancing drugs will air tomorrow Thursday, and the speculation about what he said has become the media story of the day.

The coverage is taking a lot of different angles, but there is at least one singular truth about his story: Lance is a terrible person. A tremendous athlete, but a terrible person. And not because he used PEDs, but because of how he tried to ruin anyone and everyone who dared to speak the truth.

Sometimes terrible people do good things, maybe even because they need to cover up the fact that they are terrible people. And those good things can offer enough cover that blind loyalists continue to believe. Richard Nixon created the EPA, Mussolini made the trains run on time, and Lance created the Livestrong Foundation.

But I don’t think for a second he founded his foundation because he truly cared about his fellow man. Lance reveled in the money and fame that came from being a world-class cyclist. And he was perceptive enough to recognize that Greg LeMond’s celebrity dried up the second he quit cycling. So Lance did everything he could to make his celebrity last.

First, he took PEDs so he could remain competitive, and then when he realized even PEDs would not keep him relevant forever, he founded the Livestrong Foundation. It brought him an entirely new source of fans and endorsement money. A source he thought would last a lifetime.

Lance has received world-class PR counsel over the years, and until recently it allowed him to stay in front of the rumors and accusations. But, for the moment, it has all caught up with him. Lance is a survivor, literally and figuratively, and I wouldn’t bet against the comeback for which he is desperately trying to position himself. But if his reputation does survive, don’t ever forget the one true thing about Lance: he is a terrible person.

Burger King is playing some defense after this photo was posted online, allegedly by a Mayfield, Ohio, employee.

The Wall Street Journal investigates and concludes they are.

9News’ Anastasiya Bolton is looking into the details of a second non-profit organization affiliated with Traction Communications’ Kirsten Hamling.

Hard to believe, but apparently Penn State’s (lack of) response to its child sex abuse crisis is being guided by Ketchum. According to Ad Age, Ketchum was retained on Nov. 6, the day after former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was arrested.

The hits to Traction Communications’ Kirsten Hamling keep coming. KMGH/Channel 7 has an update on a story CBS4 broke about Hamling’s alleged theft of money intended for The Children’s Hospital. According to KMGH’s Lance Hernandez, “the Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation has issued a cease-and-desist order” against her organization, Fired Up For Kids. And sources indicate that the amount of the alleged theft is at least $50,000.

Additionally, Hernandez talked to a firefighter who appeared in the calendar who says he is “betrayed and hurt that all calendar money may not have gone to burn victims.”

UPDATE: CBS4 News Director Tim Wieland says that no cease-and-desist order has been filed, but that future calendar sales and events are on hold pending an investigation. And according to the Denver Post, TCH has asked the calendar maker to stop using its name until that independent investigation is completed.

It isn’t as juicy as the Denver Players Club scandal, but this weekend’s report of a high-end Colorado gambling ring has done what the Players Club scandal couldn’t do: name names. Among those who have been caught up in the ring are Denver Post sportswriter Jim Armstrong (who was fired Friday when his name surfaced) and Steve Sander, Denver’s director of strategic marketing and a member of the Metro Denver Sports Commission’s board of directors.

The silver lining for Denver Post colleagues is that Armstrong represents one less layoff that may come should the newspaper’s buyout program not yield results.

Why are unions in Wisconsin – and nationwide – so vulnerable? Because they lost the public relations battle years ago.

Many strategists and even some labor officials argue that the genuine passion and emotion being felt and displayed on the ground in Wisconsin is obscuring a central problem: Unions still haven’t figured out even a semblance of an effective PR strategy.

We have our first winner in the Tiger Woods floozy epidemic of 2009: The University of California at Davis. Two economics professors at the school have calculated that the Tiger Woods scandal “may have cost shareholders of companies endorsed by the world’s No. 1 golfer up to $12 billion in losses.” True? Probably not. Easily reported tidbit that keeps the Tiger scandal in the news another few days during this holiday drought? Absolutely.

Microsoft is playing a little public relations defense today after a photo appeared on its Polish-language Web site that Photoshopped a black man into a white man. There are, of course, a number of lessons to be learned here, not least of which is that a white guy with black hands may arouse suspicion.

The truly great PR blunders are self-made, as Apple showed us this week. As the company prepared to publicly celebrate the one billionth download from its App Store, it managed to change the focus to how it ever could have allowed the Baby Shaker application to get approved. Apple finally hit the billion downloads mark early this morning, but every article written about the achievement will now mention the Baby Shaker controversy.

Domino’s is getting relatively high marks from social-networking and crisis-management experts for its response to a YouTube video that shows two of its employees “tampering” with food.