Baseball fans may have believed that steroid use was “a thing of the past.” But Milwaukee Brewers’ Left Fielder Ryan Braun threw them a curve ball when he accepted his 65-game suspension for violating the drug program, forfeiting “nearly half of his $8.5 million salary.” After a failed drug test in 2011, Mr. Braun was linked to an anti-aging clinic …
Going by the Book
Why would the heir to a tobacco company fortune (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco) turn his back on cigarette smoking? “Because I watched my father die from cigarettes,” comments Patrick Reynolds. But why write a book about the family history? “I didn’t know my father and I really wanted to know him. I had a lot of anger toward him because he …
Clean Up Your Act
Comparing new dads to dogs may not have been Clorox’s best idea. The published essay went on to explain that “while dads, dogs and other household pets are filled with good intentions, they lack the judgment and fine motor skills to execute well.” Lacking judgment of their own, Clorox broke the #1 Rule of Public Speaking: Know your audience. …
In the Soup
Crime never pays. Neither does bad behavior. And media coverage, without media coaching, proved it this week to Southern Cooking celebrity, Paula Deen. The Kitchen Queen has dished her last on the Food Network, her showcase for the last decade with such popular shows as “Paula’s Home Cooking” and her most recent, “Paula’s Best Dishes.” Ms. Deen has lost not …
McBranding
McDonald’s CEO, Don Thompson, recently received a question from a 9-year-old girl, Hannah, asking why they sell food that isn’t good for children, followed by “don’t you want kids to be healthy so we can live happy lives?” It was a tough question, but Mr. Thompson knows how to establish the positive image of his brand. In response, he thanked …
“Biting the Hand that Feeds You”
Every employee is an ambassador of the brand s/he works for … good, bad or ugly. A recently-fired employee of Taco Bell, perhaps believing that one photo on his mobile phone of his licking a stack of empty taco shells wasn’t attention-getting enough, decided to post the picture on his Facebook page and Reddit, leading to a viral headache for his former fast food …
A Stitch in Time
The old saw of “a stitch in time saves nine” (mending the tear before it goes any farther) was never more timely than in the brave new world of new media. Now, a 7-year-old soundbite can suddenly go viral and do damage to a brand within minutes. Case in point, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries’ less than diplomatic and arrogant 2006 …
BRAIN FREEZE
Comedian George Jessel once said that the human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public. It’s believed that everyone’s #1 fear is public speaking, with loneliness at #7 and fear of death at #5. Probably, because you don’t have to live through the lonely experience of being “up …
When Hip Hop & History Collide, You Get a “Belieber”
After touring the Amsterdam hiding place of the young Holocaust victim and diarist, Anne Frank; hip hop sensation Justin Bieber decided to leave his mark in the museum’s guest book: “Anne was a great girl. Hopefully, she would have been a Belieber,“ (a believer in Justin Bieber.) Her chronicle, The Diary of a Young Girl is recognized as one of the most …
The Medium Is the Message
In his presentation Trends, Fads and Transformation: The Impact of the Internet to Santa Barbara’s City College Lifetime Learning series, USC Annenberg’s Director of The Center for the Digital Future, Dr. Jeffrey Cole talked about how the Internet has altered mass media, societal social norms, and ecommerce. News is less often read on paper, more often on the internet; we …