PR Crimes and Misdemeanors

Wendy Marx’s Fast Company blog upbraiding PR agencies for ethical violations serves as a reminder why the criminal justice code distinguishes between felonies and misdemeanors. Granted, Burson Marstellar (not “Burston,” Wendy) did a bad thing spreading rumors about Google on behalf of its client Facebook, and Ketchum’s bait & switch frozen Italian food stunt for Con Agra gave us all indigestion. But compared to true corporate scandals that cost lives, livelihoods and fortunes, most such PR misdeeds are peanuts.

Pardon me for rolling my eyes whenever I come across holier-than-thou pieces like Marx’s, extolling the PRSA code of ethics for PR professionals. The code covers the obvious things about personal integrity one hopefully learned by the age of 5 at the feet of one’s parents, or in summer bible school, or at least by the time one became a Boy or Girl Scout. Having to spell out — to grownups — the need to be honest, has always struck me as a tad ludicrous. Long before you graduate university and take your first PR  job you are who you are. Joining a professional society probably won’t make much difference in your personal behavior, good or bad.

That said, I think that most PR people are a decent lot. Even the handful that may not be on the up-and-up at all times are probably smart (or cynical) enough to steer clear of trouble that hurts their reputation with media, which is after all, the badge by which we in PR make a living.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t recall the last time I heard of a PR agency being investigated by state/federal law enforcement officials, or its leadership led off in handcuffs for crimes against society. The same can’t always be said of corporations who call on us all from time to time for crisis PR assistance over some scandal.

To avoid embarrassing any outfit that’s still in business, here’s a brief list of major business scandals involving now defunct companies from roughly a decade ago. (If you’re interested in the full list, check out this old Forbes Corporate Scandal Sheet, sadly discontinued in Sept. 2002 — somebody in solitary must’ve griped about the bad coverage).

• Enron: Cooked the books to hide more than $1 billion in debt. Manipulated domestic energy markets and bribed foreign governments to win business.
• Arthur Anderson: Obstruction of justice for shredding documents related to the Enron probe.
• WorldCom: Overstated cash flow by $3.8 billion. Or was it $7.2 billion, or maybe $50 billion — who knows?
• Adelphia Communications: Made over $3 billion in off-the-books loans to founders, who were later convicted of fraud.

And on and on. Fast forwarding to the present, there’s that unnamed oil exploration company now under investigation for whether it skimped on mandatory safety requirements in offshore rigs.

I’ll stop here lest I begin to sound like one of those bible-thumpin’ PR preachers that get up my nose. Anyway, a squad car has pulled up outside and there are two MIBs knocking at the front door. Gotta scoot.

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