Oops - PR and Marketing Mishaps Published September - October 2007 Flyers get Active - Consumer Backlash  You know the story, a plane gets delayed and passengers miss their connecting flight and   complain as individuals to the airline. Now those passengers are collaborating and going public. A group in the US has begun to lobby Congress to demand a ‘bill of passenger rights’. The group has 15,000 members and a Web site, www.flyersrights.com. The website encourages others to ‘share your horror stories’. The potential for an Australian group of disenchanted flyers with their own story to tell is a possibility and future pr problem. Nokia feels impact of negative pr The impact a negative issue can have upon a company's share price is dramatic, and this morning Nokia felt the effects when over half a billion pounds was wiped off its stock market value after admitting that 46 million of its mobile phones were at risk of overheating. Shares in the mobile phone manufacturer dropped €0.21 to €22.42, knocking €821m (£557m) off its market capitalisation. According to reports, Nokia waited until 100 reports of phones short-circuiting had been received, before issuing a statement. One only has to do a quick Technorati search to see that the blogosphere is rife with negative commentary about the admission, which arguably didn't come soon enough... http://liberatemedia.typepad.com/liberate_media/2007/08/nokia-feels-the.html Disney nice-guy image under threat  In trying to rid Downtown Disney of loitering teens, off-duty Orange County deputy sheriffs and Disney security officers recently expelled dozens of youths and banned them from returning to the resort. But as details of the crackdown emerged it appeared that all but one of those banished were black or Hispanic, and some of the teens and their parents have accused Disney of targeting minorities. The story gained momentum and created buzz on the web ensuring further negative PR. Buzzfeed, which promotes the stories creating buzz, listed the most interesting web links to this issue in its section called Disney Racial Profiling.   http://buzzfeed.com/buzz/Disney_Racial_Profiling Street View accused of Big Brother In some bad publicity for Google privacy advocates are worrying if their Google Maps Street View is simply going too far. Referred to as ‘Go Ogle’ in Australian’s  IT Wire Google’s photos have stunned viewers As blogger, Michael Rasmussen, wrote in a comment on the Boing Boing blog "Damn right, it's creepy." British activist group Privacy International released a scathing report that said the company is "hostile to privacy" and ranked it the lowest out of nearly two dozen major Web sites when it comes to privacy issues.   (Source: CNET, June 12, 2007) Wal Mart Wal-Mart has been under fire during the past year over various issues ranging from employee conditions to fake blogs.  Recently Wal-Mart Watch, the Service Employees International Union-backed, changed tactics to get its message across to potential protesters - in a humorous way. Troup launched a three-minute video, "Harry Potter and the Dark Lord Waldemart, Part 2," that parodies the labor and business practices of Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer. The video has been viewed 65,680 times http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuEAJFnMIjk

PR Influences: OOPs pr and marketing blunders, mistakes and bloopers