Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

This was the worst media apology I’ve ever seen.

LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling—who was caught on tape telling his girlfriend not to be photographed or attend basketball games with black people—attempted to apologize during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. 

Sterling did apologize. But he also took the opportunity to attack Magic Johnson for getting “those AIDS” and made new racist remarks by claiming that wealthy African Americans “don’t want” to help their own communities like Jews do...

The two Australian DJs who made the prank call to Prince Edward hospital have broken their silence with an explanatory interview with Australian media.

Solemn and deeply apologetic, Michael Christian and Mel Greig, the two DJs behind the Kate Middleton-related hospital prank call that led to the suicide of the nurse who put them through, say they are “incredibly sorry” for what transpired. Speaking on behalf of the pair, Christian said both were “gutted, shattered, heartbroken.”

The fourteen-minute interview covered the predictable: Whose idea was it? Was this terrible outcome ever anticipated? What was their reaction on hearing about the suicide? And what happens now? At every turn, both gave a good interview. Prank calls have been around for years, they said, and they had no idea how this could happen. The call was meant to be nothing more than a funny routine prank. And, of course, they said they were very sorry....

Don't you hate it when one of your employees falls into a vat of acid?

 

It was a very New Jersey sounding industrial accident. But why do we at 15-Seconds Blog tell you about it? Because employees at Swepco, the company which owned the building with the flimsy roof and the tank of toxic stuff beneath it, refused to comment.

 

We can imagine why. Someone probably suggested that they are going to get sued and it was best to clam up. If so, they were half right. They almost certainly ARE going to get sued -- but nothing is gained by trying to make the accident look more mysterious than it was....

 

[Good case study. What do you think? Were they right? JD]

Seriously, Komen? You couldn’t have anticipated that ending your relationship with Planned Parenthood might generate some controversy?

 

As you’ve surely heard by now, the Susan G. Komen Foundation ensnared itself in a major corporate crisis this week after its decision to discontinue grants to Planned Parenthood, a women’s health provider that provides abortion services.

 

The Foundation (kind of) reversed its decision this morning after suffering overwhelmingly negative coverage – but it even got its reversal wrong....

 

[Valuable crisis management and media relations insight from Brad Phillips - JD ]

After one of its planes crash landed into San Francisco, Asiana Airlines issued a press release that didn't even acknowledge the victims.