A New Brand of Uproar

Two overconfident radio personalities, a slow moving institution, politicians eager to show their morals, and a growing crowd of offended individuals to spread the story like a virus. Anyone who has ever faced a serious issue in their business and been put under media scrutiny at a time of high stress looks back with dread at their experience. But knowing what you’re about to face and then facing it is a walk in the park in comparison to the escalating outrage of mob rule.

There are lessons to be learned from the Brand/Ross chaos over the last few weeks. And the first is to act fast and make your statement strong, definitive and sincere. You may not be able to quash the furore with one statement but you can certainly add to the anger by appearing vague, unrepentant or reactive.

You never want to make a mountain out of a molehill but if, two days after the story breaks in a national paper, the prime minister and opposition leader have made their feelings known and Ofcom are on the case, you need to get the big guns out. It’s easy to criticize the handling of a media crisis from the outside but it would have been nice to see more from the BBC management earlier. Three days after the news broke (and 11 days after the show aired) is too long to wait to take decisive action against the tide of opinion.

People love to pass on news – especially bad news – even more so if it has salacious content and appears to bring down someone in a prominent position. According to noted anthropologist Robin Dunbar, language evolved because it enabled gossip. Individuals who could share stories had an advantage. It made them popular and connected them to their gossip partners. When people pass on timely gossip they feel more powerful, they have a better shared sense of what is right and what’s wrong. It’s impossible not to talk about these things. Gossip and stories like this burst out.

It’s difficult to stop gossip and those that are genuinely distressed by what’s happened will keep talking. But show your position, set out clearly what you’re going to do according to established policies, rather than be lead to react by the ongoing situation. The story will go away. But PR people worldwide should watch and learn. It’s a cautionary tale and one that could teach us all a lot.