Preparing for a Public Relations Disaster

Over the past 20 years, selling people on a film has moved away from what the film is about and more towards the personality behind it. If a studio is promoting a film that stars Alec Baldwin, they know all that is required is getting Mr. Baldwin on Jay Leno's couch so he can be charming. After that, selling the film is easy. Americans seem to say, "Let's go see that new Alec Baldwin movie - he's just so damned charming!" So what does a studio do when they are selling a movie with only one celebrity involved - and that celebrity is videotaped hurling anti-Semitic insults at police officers arresting him for drunk driving?

Mel Gibson could not have made his spectacle at a worse time for himself or Buena Vista Pictures. His new film, "Apolcalyto," set during the fall of the Mayan civilization, is already a hard sell as it stars only unknown actors, all speaking Mayan exclusively - the only English will be in the subtitles. The studio most likely had banked on Gibson doing the talk show circuit to promote the film, as he is the only celebrity involved. He can display an enormous amount of charm while doing promotions, and as such can handily sell a movie. Not so this year, of course. The lesson to be learned for any business or personality is to prepare for the worst before it happens. A public relations crash team can only do so much when a story like this plops on their desk, and they are asked to make it all better in the eyes of the public. Instead, putting together a pre-emptive plan can save you a lot of time, money and tears. This is the purpose of Off Madison Ave's own ER-PR - preventative damage control. Imagine any of these negative stories befalling you or your business. Whatever caused it may seem secondary to the fallout that will occur. Public gaffs can happen instantly. But the negative press that follows them tends to hang on quite a bit longer. Granted, Gibson's behavior this summer was reprehensible. It is cynical to tell his story strictly in terms of public relations. Still, imagine you were the one who sank several millions of dollars into his film, or any business imperiled by bad press. How cynical would you become?

About the Author: Eric Reid

I am the Social Media Services Manager for Off Madison Ave. I've been with the company since 2006, when I was hired to do SEO, and link building in particular. When social networking sites started cropping up, at first I started using them to create backlinks - but they weren't the best for that, given all of the "nofollow" attributes. However, I did see the potential for all of the direct referral traffic they represent. Since then I've been actively pursuing both tactics for clients: Links that can help them for search, and social postings that get them involved in the conversation. It's about the coolest job you could ever get. ;)

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