It's been all Martha all the time since the domestic diva's
conviction March 5 on four counts of felony -- including perjury
and obstruction of justice -- related to her December 2001 sale of
ImClone stock. Stewart's PR (related to the case) has been slammed
left and right and is likely to wind up as a precautionary tale on
how to handle crisis communications when the boss gets into hot
water. The following comments were culled from Dan Dorfman's
column, "Public Relations Post-Mortem on Martha Stewart," in the
March 12- 14 issue of The New York Sun:
"The PR campaign wasn't handled well; it has been rooted in
lies, with Martha not telling the truth. As soon as she was
indicted, the PR concentrated on the celebrity, not on the person.
That was wrong."
-- Jack Kehoe, Abernathy & McGregor
"If Martha is interested in revitalizing her reputation, she
would do well to issue an apology for any actions she has taken or
impressions she has made that she sincerely regrets. The public
often forgives people who seem genuinely sorry."
-- David Grant, president of the LVM Group
"All is not lost for Martha. I think there's a lot of sympathy
out there, especially from women."
-- Howard Rubenstein, founder, Howard Rubenstein Associates.
(Asked about the quality of Stewart's current PR efforts,
Rubenstein would not comment).