They fought the media law, and the media law won

Posted by jameswdcrawford on November 8, 2009 under Media | Be the First to Comment

Could British Libel law be forcing British media out of business and creating a boom in blogs hosted by ISPs in countries which are not under UK court jurisdiction?

This article in today’s Sunday Times about libel media law in the UK, and how it could force American publications out of the British market, is just one of a number of recent stories which have stood out.

Then there was the story on BoingBoing.net about British law firm Wragg and Co, which the blog believes is being tasked with targeting internet forum posters and whistle blowers. It is great for the UK to be a leading centre of excellence, but this is one industry which if left unchecked verges on the sinister.

We also have libel tourists flocking to the UK, as explained in this story in The Times. Surely a surefire sign that the law is getting out of hand.

On the positive side, libel is no longer a criminal offence in the UK but this is a rare positive story.

Are strict libel laws pushing already hard up ‘old media’ print outlets out of business? Not solely because of the cost of litigation, but because blogs and online titles will be willing to take bigger risks? Will I turn to print media for my news or will I go to a blog which has the better stories? The answer is obvious: BLOGS. This is especially so of those blogs which are hosted in other countries which are out of British jurisdiction and can publish largely what they want.

Just look at the BoingBoing story over the Ralph Lauren scandal which I covered a few weeks ago (click here). Would this story have been publishable in the UK?

Ralph Lauren post: an update

Posted by jameswdcrawford on October 8, 2009 under PR | Read the First Comment

I’ve been following the Ralph Lauren advertisement scandal (see previous post: http://jameswdcrawford.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/ralph-laurens-pr-argument-is-a-little-thin/) and today on Boing Boing the following statement appeared:

On Thursday, Polo Ralph Lauren released the following statement about the retouched ad: “For over 42 years we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the caliber of our artwork represents our brand appropriately.”

Has Ralph’s PR department done enough?

Ralph Lauren's PR crisis

Posted by jameswdcrawford on October 7, 2009 under PR | 3 Comments to Read

Ralph Lauren and blog BoingBoing.net are today at each other’s throats over images used by the fashion brand showing a rather skinny looking model.

The image, Boing Boing claims, has been touched up in photoshop and today on the blog another picture was published showing how a graphic designer had “unworked” the advert to show a healthy looking woman.

Read about it here:

http://craphound.com/10-2-09LettertoPriorityColoinrePRLInfringement.pdf

So assuming Ralph Lauren is in the wrong, what can it do to halt the damage to its reputation? (note I say assuming, but it looks pretty certain that this woman is not this shape through exercise alone!)

1.  Speed is of the essence.  Deal with the problem and deal with it quickly before it gets worse.  Ralph Lauren can’t stop the story getting out but it can halt interest in it.
2. Get to the bottom of what really happened.
3. Provide a statement accepting that Ralph Lauren made a mistake.  (We all make errors!)
4. Show some humanity.  Perhaps try ‘empathy’…  Show that Ralph Lauren understands the damage anorexia and bulimia causes.
5. Demonstrate that this is a one off incident.  (make sure it is first)
6. Demonstrate commitment to an anorexia charity and / or create company guidelines on the manipulation of digital imagery.  This can’t be tokenistic, so be generous.
7. Follow up the crisis a month later with media relations to show that Ralph Lauren “meant business” when the fashion brand said this wouldn’t happen again
8. Continue to be proactive on the topic of eating disorders, photoshop distortions, and skinny models

(I’ve assumed that Ralph Lauren have got all the basics in place. E.g. a crisis trained spokesperson, a crisis manual has been prepared prior to this event, media monitoring is in place and an international network of PR agencies is ready to support the brand)