It wasn't exactly music to the ears for many of the 5,000 fans who gathered at the Las Vegas Aladdin Casino hotel for a Linda Ronstadt concert.
Toward the end of her July 17 performance Ronstadt dedicated the Eagles hit, "Desperado" to Michael Moore, director and producer of the controversial film documentary
"Fahrenheit 9/11," which is critical of the Bush administration. Ronstadt has reportedly been making the dedication at each of her gigs since her national tour started earlier
this summer. But now, all hell broke loose.
About half of the fans in the room stormed out of the theater and some of them on the way out defaced pictures of Ronstadt posted in the lobby. But that wasn't the half of it.
Ronstadt was escorted from the premises and told that she was no longer welcome at the Aladdin. "This was not a political decision," says Aladdin spokeswoman Tyri Squyres. "People
paid $80 to see a concert and, not a political forum. If she had said, 'I love George Bush' she would have gotten the same reaction." Squyres says it's unlikely the hotel will
make any changes in light of Ronstadt's comments since the Aladdin is in the process of being sold. "This was really unprecedented."
Still, the Ronstadt episode at the Aladdin points to the potential pitfalls of PR in a presidential election year, when comments by hired hands (read: celebrity spokespeople)
can cause problems for a company's public image. Considering how evenly divided the nation is right now between "Red" states and "Blue" states, PR managers may find themselves
turning purple if they're not extra-careful in their communications. (Just a few days before the Ronstadt debacle, diet company Slim-Fast dropped spokeswoman Whoopi Goldberg after
she made some less-than-flattering comments about President Bush.)
"Aladdin's damage was mitigated by the action it took," says Ned Barnett, of Las Vegas-based Barnett Marketing Communications. "Things are very polarized this election cycle,
and every corporation needs to be very careful of their views, their celebrity spokespeople and even the charities they give because if things go wrong with any of those [issues]
companies will be tarred with a broad brush and will be trying to deal with things outside of their control."
Michael Robinson, a partner with Washington, D.C.-based Levick Strategic Communications, stresses that if companies start to clamp down on what celebrities can (or can't) say
while in their employ it becomes a free speech issue - which is something to avoid. "What businesses can say is, 'Look, keep the [political] stuff out of it. We're here to make
money and entertain people,'" says Robinson, who worked in the White House and Justice Department press offices for the first Bush administration.
But the election also presents an opportunity for companies to engage in national conversations about issues they care about it, whether it's healthcare, enhancing labor
markets or inspiring people to vote. "The smaller the company the better chance there is to leverage issues the company is dealing with to get above the noise," Robinson says. PR
pros at smaller companies "have better access to the CEO and can say, 'Here's our chance to make an impact.' The bigger companies have too much to lose and are much more risk-
averse."
The trick is to be non-partisan; anything that smacks of partisanship will spark the interest of reporters on the prowl for election-year controversies. (Although some
companies are upfront about which parties they favor, most companies hedge their bets by contributing money, support, etc. to both Democrats and Republicans.)
"It's a bit of a balancing act," says Brad Fay, managing director of Roper Public Affairs, a unit of market research firm NOP World, which last week released a report titled,
"The Influential Americans: Driving Issues & Politics in 2004 and Beyond." (See charts.) "In healthcare, for example, it's incumbent upon all companies with a stake in the
system to engage in the dialog, so all sides can get their point of view across," Fay adds, taking a contrarian view to Barnett's advice about keeping things close to the vest.
"There's a risk in not engaging since an issue can take on a life of its own and go off in one direction or another very quickly."
Another way companies can mesh PR with the election is to take advantage of grass-roots efforts percolating throughout the country. PR teams can align their companies with so-
called House parties or "virtual communities" to get people to spread the word on issues/topics/talking points that are playing a role in the election and are important to the
company. "These are all tactics to translate to traditional PR objectives," Fay says.
Of course, humor has been a constant among companies that want to cut through the election clutter. During the 2000 election, for example, AutoTrader.com was preparing for an
IPO and, because of regulations, was extremely limited in what it could say publicly. The online used car marketplace turned to its then-PR firm, Access Communications, to help
drive traffic to their Web site.
Access then created AutoTrader. com's "Road to the White House," which ran from February 2000 through the November 2000 election. Presidential candidates Bush and Gore were
displayed on the AutoTrader.com Web site as a way to "poke fun" at used car dealers by drawing comparisons of integrity and morality between used car dealers and the two
candidates.
A notice on the Washington Post's Op-Ed page about the campaign led to a flurry of coverage by most of the major dailies - the Dallas Morning News, the New York Times, Wall
Street Journal -- as well as broadcast outlets like CNN, CBS Radio and the Fox affiliate in Detroit. In addition, throughout the eight-month campaign 40,000 Americans logged onto
the Web site to vote while four million people saw or heard mention of the AutoTrader.com name. "We were very sensitive about being non-partisan and made the campaign about what
consumers think, not what the company thinks," says Cori Barrett, an account director at Access, who worked on the Autorader.com campaign. "Humor can definitely be a vehicle for
your product or service. But you have to make sure you don't cross the line that makes [the campaign] tacky and insensitive."
A straightforward, nonpartisan approach -- that mirrors a particular brand -- can also work for PR in an election year. Take French Connection, a British clothing company
that's quickly become famous for its controversial clothing line featuring "fcuk" T-shirts. Partially in response to a line of T-shirts distributed by Urban Outfitters reading,
"Voting is for Old People," French Connection launched a voter registration initiative this year in concert with Rock the Vote, featuring T-shirts reading, "fcuk you, I'm voting!"
The T-shirts will be made available to 2,500 delegates attending the Democratic National Convention, which starts today (July 26) in Boston. They'll be available in the retail
chain's 25 stand-alone stores, as well as online, later this summer.
"The company wants people to vote and this was a way to raise awareness of an important issue," says Matt Traub, chief of staff and managing director at New York-based PR firm
Dan Klores Communications, which represents French Connection. "It's in line with the brand, which is edgy and in your face, so it makes sense."
Contacts: Cori Barrett, 415.904.7070, [email protected]; Ned Barnett, 702.696.1200, [email protected]; Brady Fey, 609.683.6187, [email protected]; Matt Traub, 212.981.5207, [email protected]; Michael Robinson, 202.973.1340, [email protected]; [email protected]; 702.785.5555