Friday, November 28, 2008
The Big 3 Auto Companies and Bad PR
This past week in my marketing class we were discussing the Big 3 Auto companies and their plea for a bailout plan and how bad PR could have gotten in the way of congress taking the automakers side. These 3 CEOs were in desperate need of good public relations advice. Instead of showing up on extravagant private jets, the CEOs of the auto companies should have traveled economy class to make of point of the distress their companies are facing. Also when the CEOs spoke in front of congress, they were extremely ill prepared. Before their trip to Washington they should have had their PR advisors and others grilling them on the tough questions, so they would be fully prepared to face the heat. I believe that congress, along with the public eye, would have sympathized more strongly with the automaker CEOs if they would have gotten some great PR advice before their disastrous trip to Washington.
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5 comments:
I agree! I am not completely familiar with the details but when I did see news coverage on the issue, one thing was shocking to me. When the executives were asked how much they would need, they had no idea how to answer! The response was that they would need to look into the matter. Obviously, in this type of situation, if companies are pleading for such a large amount of money, they should at least know how much they are asking for! Between that and showing up in private jets, they clearly needed a little direction in the PR area!
Completely agree. I recently did a term paper on the entire sub prime lending crisis and a large part was about GM and their bailout plan. since the paper I must admit I hven't paid too much attention to what has been going on lately but I think that the bailout plan is selfish and an awful idea. I think they need to reconstruct their company through bankruptcy rather than using the taxpayers dollars to do it.
I totally agree! I am from Detroit, so the impact the auto companies have is so prevalent in my every day life. Certainly, now the whole country is feeling the weight of this recession but honestly I have seen it for a couple years now. My friend and I were discussing how their PR team seems to do nothing. No one knows about the cost cutting measures the Big 3 has been taking for years- and I know this because I know several people whose entire job is cost cutting. And going to Washington by car could have been a FANTASTIC PR moment, by using some new "greener" technology. I know these companies are not perfect, but some good PR could really help their image!
I think PR is really needed to help create more awareness of the plights of the Big 3. I think a large part of problem is a lack of education about the subject. (I for one realize that I don't know much about it.) One good PR move is that the boss of Ford offered to reduce his salary to $1 a year next year.
We have been talking about this in my marketing class as well! Do you by any chance have Dr. Garret?
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