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September 12, 2006
Tolerance and the Role of PR
There have been several incidents in recent months that call into question our society's ability to maintain a tolerant attitude at a time of geopolitical upheaval. We should not simply excuse the perpetrators on the grounds of momentary lapses of judgment. Words matter, often as precursors to action or indicators of future behavior. We need to hold our public figures, whether actors, government officials or businesspeople, responsible for their statements. We should not be so quick to forgive or forget.
Here are a few examples of misbehavior by those in important positions:
1) Reverend Andrew Young's statement regarding the closure of smaller, mom and pop stores due to competition with Wal-Mart. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us-selling us stale bread and bad meat...I think they've ripped off our communities. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs." Rev. Young was a spokesman for Working Familes for Wal-Mart (Wal-Mart is an Edelman client).
2) Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade against a local police officer who arrested him for drunk-driving.
3) Senator George Allen's use of a racial slur "Macaca" to refer to a man of Indian descent during a recent campaign rally. Note: Sen. Allen has stood by his assertion that "Macaca" had no derogatory meaning for him and that he was sorry for any misunderstanding. For the record, Macaca is a species of monkey.
4) Producer Mark Burnett and CBS's decision to divide the teams on this season's Survivor along racial lines. Now the competing teams will be Blacks, Hispanics, Whites and Asians. The new show is called "Survivor: Race Wars."
When this sort of racial or ethnic bias is manifest, it is not the role of public relations to repair the damage by face-saving stratagems. I was offended by Mr. Gibson's carefully crafted statement on the second day, after he failed to apologize on the critical day after his (in his own words) "vitriolic and harmful words."
Here are a few of Mel's immortal lines: "Every human being is God's child and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. I am not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one-on-one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing…I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery." Sorry Mel, but this sort of ploy is just a bit too cute for me. And by the way, you have never repudiated your father's noxious Holocaust revisionism.
Or how about the most recent lame attempt at spinning the benefits of the new racially divided teams for Survivor? The show's host Jeff Probst observed in the Washington Post that not all Asian cultures are the same, so the Asians will have to get along as team members. "When you start talking to a person from Asia, you realize -Wow! They have all different backgrounds!"
Contrast this artifice with Wal-Mart's blunt condemnation of Rev. Young's unacceptable remarks. Company spokeswoman Mona Williams said, "We were appalled when the comments came to our attention. We were also dismayed that they would come from someone who has worked so hard for so many years for equal rights in this country." Rev. Young resigned from his post as head of Working Families for Wal-Mart in the wake of this controversy.
The central figure in Goethe's Faust, speaking to the student Wagner said, "Thy heart by one sole impulse is possessed; Unconscious of the other still remains! Two souls, alas, are lodged within my breast; Which struggle there for undivided reign. One to the world with obstinate desire, And closely cleaving organs, still adheres; Above the mist, the other doth aspire, With sacred vehemence, to purer spheres." We should build public trust by demonstrating our commitment to diversity and tolerance, while refusing to accept words that are hurtful and discriminatory. We must be seen as agents of change, not defenders of a status quo that hides an ugly reality under the veneer of contrition.
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PR, Public Relations, Mel Gibson, Survivor, Wal-Mart, Senator George Allen, Reverend Andrew Young
Posted by Edelman at September 12, 2006 11:53 AM |
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Comments
Richard, thank you so much for this post. Each of these cases makes it clear that it's not enough anymore for PR practitioners to do damage control after the fact. They need to think strategically about how to *prevent* these situations from happening in the first place.
And that's where I think diversity training has come up short. In the last ten years, it's become a multi-million dollar industry and yet, the number of complaints filed with the Equal Employment Commission has not seen any significant decrease.
In my opinion, it's because so much of the diversity training out there is focused on teaching people how to get along in a very superficial way. In some cases, the underlying message is actually that if you can alter your behavior to effectively *hide* your prejudices, that's good for the organization.
But here's the problem: these prejudices don't always stay hidden. And when they rear their ugly heads, it's massively embarrassing for all parties involved.
I hope that companies will come to understand that it's in their best interests to advocate an anti-racist approach -- NOT a pro-diversity approach. We're living in a time when almost all organizations pay lip service to the idea of diversity, when laws and policies have been changed so that on paper we have racial equality, but in reality, people's hearts and minds have not changed.
"Diversity" has become such a meaningless concept that CBS is actually using it as the excuse for this sorry season of 'Survivor: Race Wars.' They've gone on the record as saying that this was their answer to criticisms about prior casts being too white.
Clearly, the emphasis on diversity has been incredibly ineffective, and we need to start thinking about advocating an anti-racist approach.
Posted by: Carmen Van Kerckhove at September 13, 2006 11:33 AM
I found this entry to be extremely powerful.
It's a refreshing reminder as well to PR practitioners on our important role not as the spin doctors that society perceives us to be, but as facilitators of truth.
Posted by: Theresa at September 13, 2006 4:56 PM