Amazon Kindle PR Nightmare...Ploy or Crisis Communication?

My girl Mary over at Mama Mary Show wrote an interesting post on her thoughts of the Amazon Kindle pedophile situation a post that posed the question: was this a PR ploy set up by Amazon to get them in the news and have their name mentioned over and over right before the Holiday gift buying season?

Since my Facebook status update prompted Mary's post, I thought I would give my 2 cents - from a PR perspective. 

While this status update from the other night was very tongue-in-cheek, crisis communication is exhausting, difficult and often a no-win situation. Yes, there is the old PR saying that good or bad, all attention is attention - but from a brand standpoint, I can't see a company ever wanting to be associated with illegal, racist or sexist news. 

Let's take the recent Target PR-debacle. Upon the request of some head-honcho, the company made a campaign donation to candidate who has roots not only in anti-LGBT motives, but was associated with people who propagate hate-filled and threatening messages. While the Target PR people JUMPED and acted and apologized, swearing it was a stupid oversight, they have now lost the reputation as being a generally good, clean, non-sleazy company. And while the "boycott" of this mega-store will die down (because let's face it, we all need paper towels and Method cleaning supplies), from now on there will always be a microscope on them. People are watching Target closer than ever, waiting for them to mess up again. 

Target's LGBT situation = BAD PR.

Last year a "beta tester" for the iPhone 4 just happened to leave his test model at a bar. A bar where a write for Gizmodo just happened to be having a beer. And while both parties swear that this was a true mistake, even going so far as involving legal teams, this got people talking about the iPhone 4. The media attention that followed was all excitement-based, making people wonder and leaving them guessing about this anticipated next-generation phone. And even though the Apple PR team was freaking out and working 24/7 over it, this attention generated was better than any press release.

Apple iPhone 4 debacle = GREAT PR

And what about BP and the oil spill in the Gulf? I'm sure the majority of Americans had no idea BP owned that rig, or how much oil they supply or who their CEO is...but now we do! So it goes without saying...

BP = HORRIBLE Disastrous PR

Back to the Amazon situation, this is more than a "free speech" issue... this particular book, The Pedophile’s Guide to Love & Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct, actually describes how to engage in illegal activities and hurt, molest and abuse children. By having this book available for download, Amazon is promoting illegal activities. They have not only garnered the attention of outraged parents, but also the U.S. Justice Department. And regarding the author, Phillip R. Greaves, who writes abut the "idea" is that pedophiles are a misunderstood sexual minority who "love" children and compares the plight of pedophiles to the plight of Jews in World War II...you don't think this guy now has an FBI case-file 3ft deep?

This can NEVER result in good PR.

No matter what they do moving forward, people will always associate Amazon with pedophila. The legalities of the situation are going to take years and millions of dollars to get out of. There is a very good chance that Amazon will face Federal criminal charges for publishing and distributing child pornography. And in the end, the Amazon brand will always be tarnished by this issue.

Public Relations needs to support and protect the brand at all cost. Crisis communications is all about damage control and making sure the bad press leads eventually leads to good press. If this was a case of Amazon leaking a book before its release date, or putting a naked picture up somewhere, those are things a brand can recover from. Being thought of as a company that makes money off products that teach people how to break the law and hurt children will haunt them forever. 

What do you think?

Monday Confessional: Get Your Sparkle On!

A few weeks ago, Zoe came home from a trip to Barnes and Noble with Dad clutching a little sparkly book featuring a jeweled castle on the cover. Unbeknownst to Jason, he had just introduced our innocent little girl to the wonderful world of BARBIE and all that she has to offer. Which, these days, is a marketing push that rivals that of a Disney princess.

Now, I was a Barbie girl. I have memories of being 10 and having elaborate Barbie playdates with my friends. I actually still have a few "special Barbies", in boxes, that I will never open. I always loved that pinkalicious plastic doll, and even friended her Facebook persona last year.  

So when Zoe demanded that I read Barbie and the Diamond Castle book 50 times in a row, I was (secretly) a little pleased. But the book just didn't make sense, and there were major plot holes. I know, it's a Barbie book for Christ's sake, but it made me wonder...Later I Googled the title and realized that the book didn't stand alone. That it was just one tiny piece of the Barbie and the Diamond Castle empire, yet I still couldn't really grasp what we just inadvertantly stumbled upon. 

Since the "Diamond Castle" is an older DVD, the dolls and accessories that go hand-in-hand with the movie are harder to come by these days. All we could really find is the movie's single "Connected" on iTunes - a song (also featured in the tween movie Aquamarine) that I have now endured listened to about 5,000 times. But for the newer movies, the aisles at Target are chalk full of dolls, dresses, books, stickers and play areas themed to match, with the newest edition to the collection being Barbie: A Fashion Fairy Tale.

The movie starts off with the simple message that even Barbie has bad days. First she is fired from her movie for questioning the motives of the director and his inclusion of Zombie peas in the classic "Princess and the Pea" story. Then, not moments later, she is heartlessly dumped by long-time beau Ken via a cellphone call. With her good friends there to support her by taking her iPhone from her and telling her she is not allowed to "call, email, text or tweet Ken" they offer to take her to Melrose for an Ice Blended and a mani/pedi to get her mind off her troubles. But Barbie wants to get further away and takes off to Paris with her dog, Sequin, to visit her Aunt Millicent at her Parisian fashion house. 

{Yes. I'm telling the truth. THIS IS HOW THE MOVIE STARTS.}

During her romp in Paris, Barbie tries to save her Aunt's failing business, rescues the "Flaries" (They don't have wings but they fly around spreading flare!), meets fashion designing dogs and of course (SPOILER ALERT!) saves the day while Ken makes a grand romantic gesture to fix the misunderstanding of their break-up. With Barbie dropping words like "redonculous" and the Flaries exclaiming it's time to "Get your sparkle on!" this movie is really a sign of the times that our daughters are growing up in.

Okay, yes. It totally IS mindless blather. But the underlying messages of this movie and the Diamond Castle movie are positive and do promote a sense of "girl power." While there are male characters in each of the movies, they are never there to "save the day" - that's Barbie's job. With themes that talk about working hard to achieve your goals, following your passions and, of course, the power of having great girlfriends, I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the Barbie movies so far. They may be a bit stupid, but let's be honest here, they are straight-to-DVD fare aimed at 3-6 year old girls. And I have to say that the songs are fun, catchy and completely appropriate for 3 year olds to sing without you having to worry that they they, or an older sibling, may have to ask what "Gin and Juice" or Daisy Dukes are. That being said, the song may still make your ears bleed by the 25th time on repeat... 

So there you have it. It's Monday November 8th and my confession: I like Barbie Movies. And I totally downloaded this song... because you know what? There IS magic in cashmere! Oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh!

*Disclosure: Mattel, or the studio who produces the Barbie movies did NOT contact me and ask me to review this movie. This review was of my own accord on a purchased product b/c I felt that I needed to share that Barbie says "redonculous."