Mel Gibson - A lesson in apologizing

From time to time, companies or people do things wrong. Sometimes it's by accident, sometimes intentinally. Often their reputation going forward sinks or swims based on how they say 'I'm sorry'.

This is often where managing one's reputation bumps up against lawyers trying to manage liability. Far too often the immediate math of 'what will we lose in court' trumps the loss to reputation and the long-term business challenges that brings.

Most frequently, it's the companies or individuals who fall on their sword and do what's right to make amends who come out on top. The ones that 'apologize' without actually apologizing or issue lawerly statements of regret lose out because those kinds of 'apologies' don't resonate with people.

This is why I cite Mel Gibson's recent apology. If what I read about his behaviour is true, this guy has a lot to be sorry for. But rarely have I read such a complete and utter statement of sorrow and regret. He doesn't try to pin the blame on anyone else, or play the victim. If his statement is any indication, he seems really, really sorry.

Ultimately, only the future will tell how his reputation holds up after this incident. However, if a recent poll I saw is any indication, most people surveyed were merely dissapointed in him. I suspect that given his fullsome appology, those dissapointed fans won't be turning their backs. If people believe you are truly sorry for something, they will almost always give you a second chance.

Its the ones who try to spin or lawyer their way out of a misstep that will more often find themselves trying to polish up a permenantly tarnished reputation.


Gibson's apology

After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed.

I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the LA County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person.

I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said, and I apologize to anyone who I have offended.

Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself.

I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry.

I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health.

Technorati tags: communications, PR, apologies, Mel Gibson, lawyers

Ahhh...the prose of state-run media

North Korean state-run news brings us this scientific breakthrough:

New Cosmetic Agent Developed

Pyongyang, July 7 (KCNA) -- A new kind of cosmetic agent to make skin supple with radiance and purity has been developed by researchers of the Aromatic and Cosmetic Engineering Institute of the Branch Academy of Light Industrial Science under the State Academy of Sciences in the DPRK. They analyzed in a scientific way why the hand skin of those who are making bean paste is smooth and fair. In this course, they found out that a kind of substance making organic acid promotes the metabolism of melanin pigment in the skin to give complexion a healthy appearance and radiance and prevent wrinkling.

On the basis of this, they succeeded in making a new kind of cosmetic agent in a microbiological way. The face lotion and cream mixed with a small amount of the agent are very efficacious for lightening dark spots, freckles and skin moles in the face and making complexion fair and fresh.

I'm not sure who's better at spinning products: western PR agencies or state-run media. Either way, you've got to hand it to North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, they write a mean news piece. I mean, the product is backed by the researchers at the prestegious Aromatic and Cosmetic Engineering Institute of the Branch Academy of Light Industrial Science under the State Academy of Sciences - Who wouldn't want to try this stuff out?

Technorati tags: North Korea, PR, communications, cosmetics, science

Subponeas-R-Us

Another interesting example of the front-line communications challenges companies are facing. In this case, we see where the ever present lawyer community butts up against providing customer service. Cingular wireless is apparently the target of a class-action lawsuit by some customers and to join in customers have to be in possession of their billing records. Here's the upshot of this blogger's conversation with Cingular.

From zeroego:

Since reading the news articles about the upcoming class-action suit, I have been eager to gather documentation to prepare to contact the law firms involved. Unfortunately, I was able to find any documentation due to an overzealous shredding session before I moved a few months ago. I called Cingular tonight to settle the remaining balance on my account and to order reprints of my bills.

The CSR happily took my payment, but upon my insistence, reluctantly verified that it was posted to the correct account (my family still has a family plan with Cingular that was previously associated to mine). Then, I was placed on hold for more than 20 minutes while she reached a resolutions representative to honor my records request, which was ultimately denied. I was told I would have to acquire a subpoena to access my own billing records, because they are the property of Cingular.

And I thought it was bad when Bell wanted to charge me for mine...

Technorati tags: customer service, communications, PR, cingular, wireless

Fee Increase Letter Covered In Gobblydegook

Read this story on Consumerist re: a Fee Increase Letter Covered In Gobblydegook :

"Pat writes:

"I received a letter today from our company's wireless provider that reminded me again of the fine art of 'customer management'...[it reads:]"

At Bell and Bell Wireless Alliance, we want to keep you informed of any upcoming changes that impact your wireless account(s). We appreciate your business and wish to provide the best customer service possible, and this includes making sure you are aware of any upcoming price changes. We're committed to giving you the information you need.

The letter then goes on to disclose yet another $2 per month fee increase, and to further advise that the Bell Wireless Alliance is pleased to answer any of my questions. I haven't asked them any yet, but I may pose the following:

1. Why do you refer to your fee increase in neutral, third-party terms? Why do you say "Pricing on certain features is increasing" instead of "We are increasing your fees"? Isn't this like saying "The fist will be making contact with you shortly" by way of informing someone that are about to punch them in the face?"

As a writer that does a lot of corporate communications, seeing these kinds of letters are frustrating - to say the least. But after seeing how many agencies train people to write, I'm not surprised to see this kind of letter everywhere. It's like someone has told them the goal of letter writing is to 1. blindly include key messages and 2. try and make people feel happy about fee increases.

This letter is typical in the way its written. The writers/editors of this missive somehow believe that Bell's customers will feel grateful that they've actually been informed of a fee increase. Thank you kind sir, might I have another?

It would be really nice to see organizations dial back the spin and be more forthright. I suspect customers will never cheer you on when you increase prices, but perhaps if you informed them without making it all about spin, they might have a litte more respect for you in return.

Technorati tags: corporate communications, PR, writing, Bell Wireless, Consumerist

An army of Davids indeed.

This letter was sent to Paramount Pictures by the blogger who runs themovieblog.com after Paramount threatened his web host regarding an alleged copyright infringement. I post it because it's another example of how big companies are backpedalling big-time when blogs take them on to expose horrible service or terrible decisions. In this case Paramount has called this guy to personally apologize. This isn't all that surprising given it occured on the heels of the AOL and Comcast episodes.

"An Angry Open Letter To Paramount"

Last night at around Midnight EST. Paramount filed a complaint with The Movie Blog's hosting company about an alleged copyright violation. This complaint resulted in The Movie Blog being taken down for 7-8 hours this morning.

It should be noted that we at The Movie Blog did not receive a single request from Paramount to remove the image in question.

Following reading Paramount's complaint, I was outraged. I wrote the following letter to them which I share with you now. Needless to say, you'll never see another piece of Transformers the Movie news or talk on this site.

Am I over reacting a little in this matter? Perhaps I am. Fair enough. But this has really pissed me off. Here is the letter I sent them:

Greetings. This is John Campea, Founder and Editor of The Movie Blog - www.themovieblog.com

The Movie Blog is not one of the larger sites on the internet, right now we only have just over a million readers per month. For almost a year on both our site and on our Podcast (which won Podcast of the Year handed out at the SXSW festival this year) we have almost daily been hyping, talking about, and gushing over your Transformers the Movie project.

We've done nothing but tell the world how we think it's the best movie coming down the pipe. We constantly talk about how we think Michael Bay is the best man for the job. On and on we go crazy about the Transformers.

That is over. No more.

Last week I received a request from two of your representatives asking that I remove a picture of the character "Bumblebee" from our website. I responded by asking if you were SURE you wanted us to take it down since it seemed to be generating so much positive publicity and buzz for your project. Your representatives both said "yes". So, without delay I took the picture down. I can understand this. The Bumblebee picture gave away a character secret.

However, this morning I awoke to find that my website had been taken offline because YOU PEOPLE had filed a copyright complaint with my hosting service. The copyright complaint wasn't for any scene of filming. It was a candid picture of 4 actors standing around off camera posing for a picture together. That's all it was. There was no notice of copyright on the image, and being just a posed picture of 4 actors who were all already announced as being in the picture, I had no way of knowing you would have any problem with this image being online. And WHY did I have no idea you would have a problem with it???

Because not once did you ask me to take it down. Not one easy email to say you didn't want it online. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN 10x EASIER FOR YOU JUST SEND ME A 2 LINE EMAIL LETTING ME KNOW YOU WOULD PREFER THAT IMAGE NOT BE ONLINE than the 4 paragraph legal letter sent to my hosting company.

This has caused me a world of inconvenience and headache and disappointed me tremendously.

Is this how you treat your fans? Is this how you treat the people who are out here heaping loads upon loads of free positive fanboyish publicity and hype on your movie?!?! I am nothing short of disgusted by how you have chosen to deal with this.

You shut my site down. A fan who has been trying his best to make Transformers the most talked about film in production. A fan who has been praising your project almost daily. A fan who already once took down an image that you wanted down with just a simple request. And this is how you treat your fans? Shutting them down without so much as a 2 line email request or to at least let us know you were upset with something.

Fine. If this is how you treat people... then that is how you shall be treated. From now on The Movie Blog will not mention, reference or talk about anything to do with your movie or your project. Heavens forbid that I may say something that you don't like and wake up to find my site taken down again.

The Movie Blog is nothing. A small tiny site by most standards with only a million readers. I'm sure this won't effect you at all. But seriously folks... just a little common decency is all you needed to show. Just a simple 2 line email to ask "hey, can you take this down". That's all. I already proved I respond to your requests. I had no idea this particular image was a problem for you.

But instead you decided to "Show me who's boss" and shut my site down.

Well you did it. You really showed me who's boss. Do you feel all big and tough now? So well done. You lost a fan, and you lost a whole years worth of free positive hype and publicity. I hope it was worth it to you.

As an aside, I'm being quite reserved about my feelings on this. If you are at all interested in the full extent of our anger over this, just have one of your people listen to our Podcast Friday night.

John Campea
Editor of The Movie Blog
www.themovieblog.com
john@themovieblog.com

UPDATE: John from themovieblog.com is happy with Paramount's response. And thanks to Vincent for the link!

When to respond

Recently there have been a number of stories about individuals using blogs as a tool for pursuing grievances. A case in point was an openly gay lawyer in Vancouver who quickly launched a blog in an attempt to embarrass his employer whom he felt had a work environment that was hostile to him. In the media discussion around this case, the point was raised about blogs and how organizations should respond to issues that arise in this way.

Every situation is different and in most cases I believe the best course of action is to engage in the conversation to ensure your message gets across. However the case I note above is a good example of when not to engage. In this case, the young lawyer decided to pursue a remedy to his grievance through public channels. This in itself is a very risky tactic and is one that would tend to cause people to question motives. Especially since it's quite likely that the law firm in question likely has clearly identified policies and procedures for addressing issues like his.

The law firm provided limited comment to the mainstream media covering this story and did not respond in the blogosphere. In the end, it proved to be a wise course of action. The young lawyer in question also must have realized that his blogging was tanamount to a scorched earth policy with his law career and quickly deleted the posts he'd made. All in all, I'd say the firm fared well in the controversy - largely because it's measured response (intentional or not) worked well in juxtaposition with the lawyer's high-risk strategy.