Bottom Line: Do you remember the days when
multinationals could steadily control their PR agendas? Big Tobacco
was able to portray smoking as suave and sophisticated, not to
mention the leisure choice of doctors, for years, until their
opponents' message of addiction and death finally took hold.
Contrast that with today, where corporate PR campaigns can be
thoroughly routed and turned against the companies almost the
instant they begin – if not before. What happened? You
guessed it. Social media – and activists who REALLY know how
to use it.
CASES IN POINT
It's no secret that the oil industry, particularly in the
oil sands, has been living in PR hell. Greenhouse gas emissions.
Oil spills. Pipeline leaks. Tailings ponds and tar-soaked ducks.
These were the stories of oil, with little else being said. Not
surprisingly, the industry finally decided they had better step up
to the mike.
