Bill O’Reilly Drinks Pepsi? It was a momentous week for brands. It started with a Sunday NY Times page 1 item about Fox News Channel allegedly paying millions to keep sexual harassment charges against its top-rated host, Bill O’Reilly, from going to court. Combined with other alleged sexual harassment incidents at Fox, including one that led to the ouster of founder Roger Ailes over the summer, the O’Reilly story led more than 30 brands to drop ad deals of the nightly show. At our press time, Fox continued to stand behind O’Reilly. A pair of brands that reacted to internet heat were Nivea and Pepsi. Nivea dropped its “White Is Purity” ad for anti-perspirant due to charges of racial insensitivity and after white supremacist groups touted the ad on social. Nivea, you might recall, in 2011 dropped an ad that showed a black man throwing away a dummy’s head that sported an Afro. The insensitive tagline: “Re-Civilize Yourself.” Accounts of the Pepsi-Kendall Jenner ad blunder were covered to death last week, nearly eclipsing Nivea (how lucky for Nivea). Could communicators have helped these two brands? Yes, says the PR Council, addressing the Pepsi situation. “PR professionals work to take a nuanced view of a brand’s audiences, and this is where our counsel is so critical,” it said in a statement April 5. “PR professionals are often criticized for getting in front of Creative’s ‘bold’ ideas, but sometimes helping a client avoid a disaster can be an invaluable contribution. All ads and storytelling should be thoroughly vetted; asking and answering the scenarios that may play out when taking a risk, should a crisis arise.” Adds Solomon McCown president Ashley McCown, in an interview with us about Nivea, Pepsi and O’Reilly, “The bottom line for communicators: remember what your customers and stakeholders value when evaluating language, messages and images in your communications—and make sure your messages align with these values.”
M&A and Growth: Rasky Partners launched a codes & regulations consulting service within its public affairs team. SVP Jeff Terrey will be its leader. – Finn Partners took its first step into the Asia-Pacific region by acquiring B2B/tech specialist Ying Communications of Singapore and its sister agency True Worth Consultants. – L.C. Williams & Associatesof Chicago acquired JSH&A. Terms were not released. – Caliber Corporate Advisers of NY acquired Leverage PR, a Texas marketing and PR specializing in financial services, real estate and technology. – InkHouse launched an office in NY. Former Spark PR exec Nicole Bestard will head the office as EVP/GM.
People: CLS Strategies named former Obama National Security Council hand Mark Feierstein a senior advisor. – Nicole Lynn Cardillo was promoted to VP, communications, social media and consumer relations for Shiseido of the Beauty Prestige Group. – Centron PR named Stacey Gandler EVP, managing director, PR. – Randle Communications promoted Julie Hooper to VP, public affairs. – BerlinRosen named Sara Joseph SVP of hospitality & lifestyle. She joins after seven years at Current Marketing. – PR News CSR Professional of the Year (2017) Aaron Sherinian, who’s CCO/CMO, the U.N. Foundation, is leaving June 1 after eight years to join the Aga Khan Development Network. – Terry Hines & Associates rebranded its multicultural division to THE MRKT. Marcos Barron will serve as president, with Bree Bosselmann as SVP.
Page vs. FakeNews: The issue of truth dominated the early moments of The Arthur W. Page Society’s spring summit in NY April 7. Early that morning its 36-member board of trustees broke with tradition, speaking out on an issue of the day. In a lengthy statement, Page reiterates its commitment to truth in PR and journalism and a free, fair press. “All of us must share a commitment to the facts and the pursuit of the truth,” it says. “Distorting information, withholding the truth or promulgating falsehoods violates the public’s trust and denies its rightful opportunity to be engaged and informed. This is precisely why democratic societies require a free and fair press. In this respect, our profession is intertwined with journalism.” Page also will form a subcommittee “focused on these issues.” Appropriately, the summit’s first panel was a chat with Wall St Journal editor Gerard Baker. Politicians long have been telling untruths, he tells attendees, but President Trump “probably does this more” than others. “That’s a challenge for us,” he admits. – On the same day Page talks truth, Google debuts a fact-checking tool in its search and news results as a strike against fakenews. Google began testing the feature in Oct. PolitiFact and Snopes will be the fact checkers initially, Google says. The feature will be available for select searches only, though. It’s a start. – Speaking of Page, Aflac CCO Catherine Blades joins The Home Depot CCO Stacey Tank on Page’s New CCO podcast, available at Page’s site late this week (PRNP, March 27).