By Laura Mead
I don’t think any of us have escaped the news hitting the headlines this week that Facebook has unabashedly hired a mainstream PR agency to carry out a smear campaign against Google – particularly after our very own Ginnia Cheng blogged about at the end of last week. However, just in case you’re reading us for the first time...
After numerous rumours of who was behind the Google bashing, journalist Dan Lyons broke the story that it was Facebook that brought Burson Marsteller on board to carry out the FUD campaign. The news comes after an influential blogger published an email exchange with the agency online when the Burson Marsteller employee in question refused to disclose its client. The plot thickened when USA Today then accused Burson Marsteller of offering high profile media outlets news and op-ed stories about how Google’s ‘Social Circle’ networking tool ‘violates the privacy of users’.
If this isn’t a lesson in how not to do PR, I don’t know what is. While it’s really not overly surprising to hear that the search giant is getting picked on (again), what is unexpected is to hear that Facebook, acting so deviously, is behind the allegations, and that a PR agency of such good standing has stooped to a new low in getting involved in such an underhanded campaign.
It feels wrong not to give Jim Goldman and John Mercurio – former CNBC tech reporter and former political reporter respectively and PR ‘masterminds’ behind this debacle – the benefit of the doubt, especially given their backgrounds. However, I can’t help but question why any PR would take on a brief of this nature for any company – even Facebook, without doing their homework and without understanding and foreseeing the ramifications.
And, where is the apology to Google? Sure, Burson Marsteller has issued a statement detailing the agency’s lack of involvement as a whole, saying that this is not standard operating procedure for the firm – however, neither Burson Marsteller, its employees involved, nor Facebook (beyond its recent statement) has taken any responsibility yet. The entire situation, from the start to the demise, seems to have been handled very poorly. Surely past experiences, from Tylenol’s cyanide incident to the Exxon and BP oil spills, have taught us to stand up and take responsibility in the wake of such serious crises.
With all of this, perhaps what’s most unfortunate from my perspective is that even though Facebook has clearly picked the fight and the PRs involved are old hacks themselves, ultimately it’s going to become just another setback for the PR industry as a whole. Of course, it will also have serious repercussions on Burson Marsteller's reputation – but the question remains as to how it will affect the rest of the industry. Our sector has always faced an uphill battle when it comes to reputation and this will certainly be tough damage to overcome, given the likely impact this crisis alone will have on the entire sector.
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