2006 was ripe with classic PR blunders. Here’s my list of the top 5 PR blunders of the last year. My list includes business, sports, celebrities, and politics—thanks to the Bush Administration, which provided plenty of political PR blunders to choose from. Here we go:

1. Dick Cheney Shoots His Buddy: the Vice President’s hunting incident, the accidental shooting of friend Harry Whittington, was a classic, case-in-point PR blunder. The mistake? The delay in immediately telling the public what happened. If you ignore the media and there’s a vacuum to be filled, guaranteed they will fill it! And when the administration finally responded, they had the audacity to suggest that Whittington was at fault. I’m not sure if Vice President Cheney’s Press Secretary was absent, incompetent, or just shut out of the loop (most likely scenario), but the PR blunder is obvious.

The lesson: provide the public/media immediate and accurate information and take responsibility for your actions.

2. The OJ Book Controversy: This just amazed me. The book, discussing how he would have killed his wife “If I Did It,” is being published by ReganBooks, a division of HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. That’s bad enough for Rupert, but to make things worse, Fox planned on airing an interview with OJ discussing the book! Fox then would not even comment on the interview. How could Fox not have predicted the public’s reaction to this?

The Lesson: look ahead, how are your actions going to be perceived by the public?

3. Michael “Kramer” Richards Rant: this racial outburst at an L.A. comedy club went on for several minutes. Richards did end up apologizing, but this type of blunder is tough to recover from.

The Lesson: for Richards, at least, stick to comedy shows and not live standup. That will make it much easier to control what comes out of your mouth.

4. HP Spying Scandal: I’ve already written about this, so I’ll be short. HP chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, wanted to know who was leaking information to the press and implemented the now infamous data-mining spying campaign by hiring a team of security experts to spy on 10 directors, the media and other influencers. The question everyone is asking? Where was PR?

The Lesson: PR needs to be present in the decision making process.

5. For Local Flair, Larry H. Miller and the EnergySolutions Arena: Just about every Utahn was a little disappointed to have their arena renamed after a waste management company. Linda Luchetti, vice president of communications for Larry H. Miller Sports and Entertainment, provided this statement, “We approached EnergySolutions because of their involvement in the community and the values we hold in common. They fit with what we’re trying to do. We both emphasize education and the importance of giving back to the community.” The same values? Okay, I’m going to avoid the politics of this, but Larry Miller should have better anticipated the community’s reaction to this.

The Lesson: Again, look ahead; anticipate the public’s reaction.

Common themes:
• Organizations need to better anticipate the public’s reaction to their actions.
• PR needs to participate in the decision making process.
• When a crises hits, immediately respond to the media and the public.
• Take responsibility for your mistakes

Alex Koritz