Could the ongoing Komen PR crisis have been avoided? Yes, simply by taking a step back and THINKING before acting. Komen didn’t take the time to THINK the situation through, to examine their actions from beyond the insiders’ perspective, and so they didn’t anticipate the overpowering backlash against their decision that resulted. Instead of remaining focused on their reason for existing, preventing and curing breast cancer, they stepped into a highly charged, highly sensitive political arena that had absolutely nothing to do with the organization’s main mission. They allowed their personal political beliefs to take over the Komen mission. As a result, Komen has damaged its brand, its constituents, and its legacy.
For PR peeps like me, morbidly watching the ongoing trainwreck that is Susan G. Komen is both pathetically funny and sadly predictable. We watched the drama unfold, silently thanking our lucky stars that we weren’t in the shoes of Leslie Aun, Komen’s Vice President of Marketing & Communications. Like many of my colleagues, I engaged in armchair quarterbacking the situation on Twitter and other social media sites. This past Tuesday, I confidently predicted to my class of PR and advertising students the imminent resignation of Komen executive Karen Handel, a former Republican candidate for governor of Georgia who made the defunding of Planned Parenthood a key part of her campaign; she was the apparent driving force behind the action. I gave Handel three days, which turned out to be wildly generous – she was gone before I made it back to my office from class.
