In this new monthly column, we examine what makes good PR - and bad. We'll use history as a bit of a guide, but also go by our gut instincts to determine which recent PR
efforts should be noted and which ones fail to pass the smell test.
Good PR
There's nothing like taking your clothes off to change the conversation. That's precisely what the Dixie Chicks did recently, posing nude on the May 2 cover of Time Inc.'s
Entertainment Weekly -- except for some well-placed body language - in a move that's pretty much deflected all the criticism leveled against the country music crooners for
speaking out against the war in Iraq. For a while, it seemed that the Chicks, who also bashed President Bush in the early days of the war, were Public Enemy No. 1. Commentators up
and down the media chain lined up to accuse the group of being anti-American, which begged the question: Would the public start to tune out the musical trio? Then the EW cover
hit, the Chicks addressed their critics, and people suddenly stopped talking about the Dixie Chicks' political proclivities and started talking about their EW cover (in addition
to a well-timed TV chat with ABC's Diane Sawyer). The decision seems to have paid off, as the Dixie Chicks currently tour the country, playing to sell-out crowds.
Bad PR
One would think the suits at Northwest Airlines would have learned something from the recent American Airlines debacle. In April, American's managers cut themselves a
sweetheart (and secret) financial deal after three of its unions agreed to more than $1 billion worth of concessions to avoid bankruptcy. American's management was subsequently
skewered in the press and the episode cost American Airlines Chairman-CEO Donald Carty his job. Now Northwest, citing a decline in Asian traffic because of the outbreak of severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), has invoked an emergency clause in its labor contracts -- called "force majeure" in legalese -- that allows it to lay off employees without
notice. "We wanted to communicate the economic realities to our unions," says Mary Stanik, a Northwest spokesperson, adding, however, that there are no layoffs planned "at this
time." While we sympathize with the airliners' financial woes -- it lost $396 million in the first quarter -- issuing what is essentially a veiled threat to its union members is
bad PR. Indeed, Northwest's decision comes at a time when airline industry relations between management and labor are at a low point, and this certainly doesn't help matters. The
move could be viewed as disingenuous, too, since Northwest's traffic on flights to the Pacific dropped 25% through April compared with the same period in 2002.