Archive for March, 2008
March 25, 2008 at 7:52 pm · Filed under Issues Management, Public Relations
Neurolinguistic programming looks at the effect certain words or phrases have on us. University of California professor George Lakoff teaches the art of “framing” in his Cognitive Science 101 course at Berkley (for a .pdf version of Lakoff’s book “Don’t Think of an Elephant”, click here).
In “Elephant” Lakoff shows how certain words attach to the psyche and become “frames” for all subsequent discussions on the subject. In politics think “Patriot Act” or “Tax Relief”. These laden words cannot be countered effectively - how can any politician object to “Tax Relief” or be against the “Patriot Act”?
This concept applies to names, as well. London-based psychologist Richard Wiseman and his team surveyed 6,000 people to get their impressions of first names. Today’s “The Australian” includes highlights:
“People called James and Elizabeth are seen as the most successful. Jack and Lucy are the luckiest and Sophie and Ryan are the most attractive. But Lisa and Brian are most likely to fail, Helen and John are the unluckiest and Ann and George the least attractive.
“Professor Wiseman said: ‘Attractive female names tended to be soft-sounding and end with the ‘ee’ sound, whereas the sexiest males names are shorter and harder sounding.’”
Poor, unlucky George! Sounds like Brad and Angelina are onto something!
Public relations and advertising can use these insights to build better “sound bytes” and slogans. Use of key words and phrases will embed the concept in the mind of the listener - and make the phrase harder to counter.
What examples stick in your mind?
March 25, 2008 at 3:04 am · Filed under Issues Management, China
Last week I wrote about Gloria Jean’s Coffee - and yesterday found a Facebook Group organising a boycott. Consumer companies need to fear public backlash. The goodwill that propels a brand to stardom can be fickle. It turns quickly.
Beijing is in the throes of boycott avoidance. The Tibet uprising couldn’t come at a worse time. Over the coming weeks the Olympic flame will visit most major cities - to provide a searing reminder of the issue of human rights.
I am old enough to remember the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Then the USSR had invaded Afghanistan and was subjected to a global boycott. Many Eastern European nations retaliated in 1984 by avoiding the Los Angeles games.
Today athletes are under pressure to consider personal boycotts of the games. Nations stand like dominoes ready to topple in succession. Each awaits the other’s move.By the Northern Hemisphere summer we’ll see a succession of boycott calls. And many individuals will heed the call. Soon after pressure will grow for nation states to follow.
Don’t book your hotel rooms in Beijing quite yet. It won’t be a politically correct place to visit this year.
March 17, 2008 at 5:56 pm · Filed under Issues Management, China
In olden days, China only needed to censor the media and expel foreign journalists. This week video footage of uprising in Tibet has been uploaded to YouTube. In Mainland China access to YouTube is down today. For some quirky reason you can’t get your favourite karaoke, pet tricks or scenes of activists being led away in chains (or in a body bag). This is the bleeding edge of citizen journalism.
On 11 April the Newseum opens in Washington DC. This is a museum dedicated to news and journalism, and is likely to honour journalists killed in the line of action. Soon they will have to feature the ordinary citizens who place their life on the line to ensure atrocities are witnessed by all the world.See this clip on YouTube.
And realise this - your ability to watch this means you’re living in a democracy.
March 16, 2008 at 10:08 pm · Filed under Issues Management, Australia
Not many Australians like chain coffee. Starbucks has yet to make a dent in an already established cafe culture. Local chain Gloria Jeans has met with better success. This home-grown chain serves the same syrupy overpriced concoctions that led to Starbucks’ fame in the USA. Yet today this local coffee chain is in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Today’s The Sydney Morning Herald features a harrowing tale of faith-based approaches to treating mental illness. Patients report of abuses that are clear violations of civil liberties. Tragically the centres where these abuses occurred are meant to solve serious mental issues. Instead, they appear to cause more harm.
The centres are all underwritten by donation boxes in local coffee shoppes run by Gloria Jeans. Here is a corporation underwriting a religious organisation that is accused of mishandling women in crisis. Can I get a muffin to go with that?
For corporations the issue becomes a clearer understanding of which charities you choose to underwrite. Faith-based charities do attract strong support from elements of the community. Sadly they also alienate other parties.Corporate social responsibility (CSR) provides an opportunity for companies to give back to their local communities. Ideally it should provide a win-win for all involved.
But by underwriting a faith-based organisation that has sparse resources to handle women in mental crisis Gloria Jeans has done damage to its reputation. Few corporate communications people want to start their day with this in a leading newspaper:
Taking in girls and women aged 16 to 28, Mercy Ministries claims to offer residents support from “psychologists, general practitioners, dietitians, social workers, [and] career counsellers”. These claims are made on its website, and the programs are promoted through Gloria Jean’s cafes throughout Australia.
But these former residents say no medical or psychological services were provided - just an occasional, monitored trip to a GP, where the consultation takes place in the presence of a Mercy Ministries staff member or volunteer.
Instead, the program is focused on prayer, Christian counselling and expelling demons from in and around the young women, who say they begged Mercy Ministries to let them get medical help for the conditions they were suffering, which included bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and anorexia.
My advice is simple - do get involved in CSR, but make sure you thoroughly vet any organisation before bringing your brands together. You may indelibly tarnish your reputation if you don’t.
March 9, 2008 at 6:13 am · Filed under Uncategorized
A client of mine talked about me in their executive committee meeting this week. I’m to present results of an internal communications audit to all staff - and highlight next steps. One of the executives paused and asked - “Don’t you think he’s too American?”
My client asked what they meant. Do you think he’s too loud? Too forward? “Well - yes,” came the reply. Thankfully my client remarked that staff had all responded favourably to my energetic style. The issues was resolved.
But it made me think. What other nationalities could you equally single out?
“Don’t ask her to present - she’s so Chinese!” I don’t think so!
Or how about - “Will people understand him? He is very Greek.” Sounds like a lawsuit, doesn’t it?
“Staff won’t respond favourably to him because he’s so Italian (or Lebanese or Vietnamese or Thai).”
I have to say you’re right to cringe at all these phrases.
Yet in Australia it’s okay to pick on the Americans. And the British. Equally, an Aussie in London gets complimented by being told, “You’re not very Australian.” Does that mean the hat with corks is missing and there are no Vegemite stains on their tie?
I know the comment was not meant to discriminate or exclude or whatever. But in a backwards way it still stings.
I took up citizenship in 1994 and choose to live in Australia. That’s a forever decision (or so it feels right now). But to many I’ll always be American. And while I retain my USA citizenship I live in Sydney, travel on my Aussie passport and feed my son Vegemite for breakfast.
So now I know what Laotians, Indonesians, Mongolians, Chileans and all others feel like when they’re in Australia.
At least as an American you get it to your face.
March 4, 2008 at 6:44 pm · Filed under America
Obama is on the back foot after a leaked memo had one of his trade advisors telling Canada not to worry about NAFTA. While the Illinois senator decried the free trade agreement - that’s led to a loss of jobs in rust belt states like Ohio - the memo says in discussions with Canadian officials Obama’s stance has been nothing more than political posturing.
The message was “wink wink - don’t worry.” Media are calling for answers and the issue was raised on floor of Canada’s Parliament. Canada’s PM said it was ludicrous that the country could be actively involved in selecting the next US president.
The bigger issue is the lack of understanding about the preferred candidate for president. Hillary is old news. McCain is older yet. We’ve seen them in action and have little more to learn about them.
But Barrack? He’s squeaky clean. And that’s good. He’s also largely unknown. And that’s not so good. America is making a dramatic swing to the new. But it’s also a dramatic swing to the unknown.
By rejecting Bush and all he’s done to the country, Americans are opting for a fresh start. But there’s still a lot unknown about this candidate. Who would he choose for his Cabinet? How would he handle an insurgent Iran? Can he soothe the economy?
Is Barrack Obama a visionary like FDR or a naive outsider like Carter? (Or a boob like Bush?) When pulling the lever in November, Americans will be voting for change and a fresh start. They may also be voting in an unknown.
For the sake of the country I hope he is all he’s proclaimed to be.
March 2, 2008 at 6:50 pm · Filed under America
I find it unsettling that the whole of the USA is encharged with selecting its Commander in Chief, yet the elections of recent memory have all come down to a state or two.
Gore lost in 2000 due to Florida. (Who can forget the ‘hanging chads’?) Four years later it was Ohio that lost it for Kerry. Tomorrow in America Hillary Clinton will lose in Ohio and Texas. She is under pressure to accept defeat and cede the nomination to Barrack Obama.
I returned to America after a ten year absence in 1999. Then Gore lost and Bush started and 9/11 ‘happened’ (is there a better verb here?). Six years later I left a nation that was divided and bitter.
The politics of diviseveness was an awful invention of Karl Rove, Bush’s senior political advisor. His strategy was to fuel dissent between the left and the right. It got so foul you couldn’t even raise the issue of politics - what if the other person disagreed? You wouldn’t be sparking a debate - you’d be on the receiving end of vitriol. My own brother votes Republican consistently. I had to point out the reason for our migration to Australia was the rancour we faced - and the institutionalised discrimination against same-sex bi-national couples.
So now Rove’s legacy is slowly fading. Republicans are as marginalised as chain smokers. Bush made many kick the habit - and those who still can’t quit are demonised. (Rove’s legacy lives?)
Yet tomorrow it’s polling day in Texas and Ohio. And after dozens of states and millions of votes, it will come down to the decisions of people in one or two states.
Goodbye Hillary - perhaps todays article in The Australian is right. Chelsea Clinton may be the next Clinton in the White House. Hopefully the Obamas will leave good policies in place for her to build on.
