“Any Publicity is Good Publicity”? Ain’t Necessarily So. Just Ask Toyota.

There’s a saying: “Any publicity is good publicity”. “As long as they’re talking about you” people say. Ain’t Necessarily So.

Want publicity? Careful what you wish for.

Just ask Toyota. Tylenol. Audi. Nurse Susan Nelles. Maple Leaf Foods. Domino’s Pizza.

Every company should have a “sh-t hits the fan plan” ’cause if and when it hits, you’ve got to respond, not sit around board room tables and create committees. Study what others have done right and what they’ve done wrong. Watch the You Tube videos of the CEOs taking responsibility (or not) and decide how you would approach it, how your company would approach this kind of a test and make sure that it is consistent with your brand because this is how your company will be remembered for a very long time, perhaps forever.

Communications pro, David Fleet, gives some tips here on how to get started.

How is Toyota going to come out of this faulty accelerator pad thing?

Depends how they handle it. Some suggest Toyota has already waited too long. According to Ad Age, they should take instruction from Johnson & Johnson’s handling of the Tylenol tragedies. One thing is clear. This one will go down in the crisis communications textbooks along with Dell Hell and the Domino’s Pizza Affair.