Bad Kissing Show Causes Tweeple to #boycottSouthwest

Southwest flew into heavy turbulence over a lesbian kissing scene involving Leisha Hailey, an actress who is known for her role in the lesbian life drama “The L-Word” on Showtime. 

On Monday, Hailey tweeted: “I have been discriminated against by @SouthwestAir. Flt. attendant said that it was a ‘family’ airline and kissing was not ok.”

Demanding a public apology from the airline carrier, Hailey stated she and her ex-girlfriend Camila Grey were wrongfully removed from the plane after sharing a “modest kiss.” She expressed her anger in several tweets about how the airline endorses homophobic employees. The actress then called for all tweeple to #boycottSouthwest.

The hashtag spread quickly causing angry customers to leave hundreds of negative comments about the insensitivity toward the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgenderedFacebook page. (GLBT) community on the company’s

Within a few hours after Hailey’s initial tweet about the airline, Southwest tweeted back a short response asking the actress to direct message them about the issue. The company then issued a statement on their corporate blog and posted the link onto Twitter for all of their followers to see.

According to official statement, several passengers complained about the couple’s alleged behavior, describing it as “excessive.” The flight attendant approached the passengers due to their inappropriate behavior; it was not discriminatory against their gender. The conversation between the attendant and the women escalated when Hailey started using profanity, which ultimately caused the women to be escorted off of the airplane. Southwest finished their official statement by offering their “heartfelt apologies for falling short of [the customers’] expectations.”

Other airline carrier spokespeople responded to the public display of affection (PDA) issue. All of their responses basically stated that flight crews will take action if they find it necessary especially if other passengers feel uncomfortable. They even agreed with the actions Southwest took during this kissing crisis.  

The most ironic part of this issue is the airline’s partnerships with local and national GLBT organizations, including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). The airline even has a page on their website dedicated to their support of the GLBT community and its initiatives.

GLAAD issued a press release the day after the incident stating that homosexuals should be able to openly express their affection toward each other in public, and corporations should ensure that employees use the best practices for welcoming all customers.

Southwest did a good job of quickly (but carefully) responding to the two customers and the public. Within hours of the incident, corporate headquarters directly contacted the disgruntled women and offered a statement along with an apology. Apparently other customers (who did not pay for a show) were uncomfortable with the intimate behavior of the two women, which is why the flight attendant made the comment “this is a family airline.” As a frequent flyer, I would hate to be stuck on an airplane watching a couple partake in PDA, and it doesn’t matter their gender, race, religion or any other label, because it’s simply inappropriate.

Companies #Fail in Social Media

Looking through the PR Daily I noticed a trend; people are upset with the way companies are handling their communications using social media, especially during a crisis. Granted, people in general are hard to please, but let’s face it, there have been companies that reap the benefits from utilizing innovative social media strategies. 

According to a recent study by Burson-Marsteller, 79 percent of companies in the Fortune 500 list use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or blogs to communicate with customers and stakeholders. Out of the four top social media platforms used, Twitter is the most popular for Fortune 500 companies. About 67 percent of the Fortune 100 companies have at least one Twitter account and have an average of 4.2 Twitter accounts per company (www.mashable.com).

One company that uses Twitter is ­Netflix. Recently the company decided to split into two different businesses, and they told their customers about the new business plan via their corporate blog and email late in the process. The two businesses would include one that streams movies and TV shows online, which will continue to be named Netflix, and another that mails DVDs, which will be called Qwikster.

Other than Netflix hiking up their prices and the company’s failure to communicate to customers in a timely manner, there was another minor detail missed during the planning process.  The fact that the Twitter handle @Qwikster was already taken by a man whose picture is Elmo… smoking pot. After word got out about the new business name, more than 9,000 people started following this guy, thanks to Netflix. Just from adding @Qwikster on Twitter followers found that he enjoys “blazing” (smoking marijuana), his ex is dating someone else and he enjoys looking at women while riding his bike in D.C. (www.prdaily.com).

This was probably not the best planning on Netflix's part; especially since this isn’t the kind of guy anyone would want representing their company. Needless to say, this is a huge social media #fail for a company that is supposedly technologically savvy.

With the dozens of social media flops that come to mind, why aren’t more companies prepared to deal with these online crises? The Altimeter report approximates that 76 percent of social media crises could be avoided or reduced; however, companies quickly deploy the latest social media technology and aren’t prepared to deal with the consequences of their actions (or lack of actions). Due to what the report refers to as "fragmented technology," companies that have implemented advanced social media policies are unprepared. The issue is the companies’ failure to tie customer data to support systems (www.prdaily.com).

Just a few reasons why there is an issue in the social media department include: a lack of continued social media training for employees;  a lack of social media crisis response plans prepared; and the use of social monitoring tools that don’t explain why the customer made their comment (which is why businesses need analytics tools as well). Oh, and I almost forgot, a lack of research of what Twitter handles are available for your future company.   

Social media is here to stay, so companies need to quickly learn the ropes of social media or else face the long-term (most likely negative) impacts on their business.

The Fabulous Profession that is PR

As a kid, I changed my mind a million times about what I was going to be when I grew up. From a teacher to a marine biologist, I just couldn’t make up my mind. Ten years later, I am still pretty clueless.

When I started my “college career” at a Dallas community college, I assumed I would just kind of figure it out along the way. Then, I heard about the field of PR through one of my best friends whose aunt majored in it. Her aunt was working in the marketing side of retail for the Dallas Cowboys at the time, which I thought was pretty awesome and something I might be interested in. I thought the idea of public relations sounded intriguing, so I jumped the gun and signed up for the Intro to Public Relations class. Needless to say, I had a pretty good experience considering I am (finally) graduating in December with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism with a concentration in PR (and a minor in marketing).

As I continued with my degree, I realized that several people (especially younger college kids) did not know what PR actually is and what public relations professionals do. When I tell random people what I’m studying at UNT, they often nod their heads and pretend to know what I’m talking about. Their responses tend to be something along the lines of, “you just keep good relations with the public,” or “yeah, you get to throw all of those big parties and events for companies.” For people who know of the field, their response usually is something like, “you spin things to make them sound better than what they really are.” In these situations, I always proactively advocate for our field.  I tend to reply with “sure,” and then proceed to talk about the endless amount of tasks that we actually do and our overall goals as professionals.

The definition of the profession seems to be “clear as mud” to a lot of people. Maybe too many people watched the HBO series Sex and the City? One of the main characters, Samantha Jones, owns a PR firm in the television show. Jones portrays the field as glitzy, glamorous and of course, sexy. Throughout the series she goes on extravagant trips; meets famous celebs and throws fabulous parties with affluent guests. Sure, sometimes this might happen, but more often than not, we write news releases (among a long list of other written pieces); are the main contacts for the media; help complete communications plans and implement them; are on-call 24/7 in case of a crisis and have a variety of other responsibilities.  

The point is, as professionals, both old and new, we need to advocate not only for our clients but for ourselves and our field. It’s strange that several people I have encountered don’t know what we do and what we represent since we are the voice of individual clients, companies and organizations. So be a positive, booming voice for our fabulous profession and let the world know who we are and what we stand for as a group.  

JOUR 3410: More Than a Meal

Our Daily Bread (ODB) is the only soup kitchen in the city of Denton.  Monday through Friday ODB serves a free lunch to their clients in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church right off of the square. Since opening its doors in June 2000, ODB has provided about half a million meals. The organization continues to feed approximately 200 local needy on a daily basis, which has progressively increased in the past eleven years. The nonprofit’s mission is “to provide a daily meal in a safe environment for all who are hungry and provide physical, as well as emotional support for the needy people of Denton County, including transients and especially the homeless.”

ODB offers other services including a warm clothing drive every winter; weekend snack programs; transportation vouchers; bicycles along with free bicycle repairs; weekly job searches and résumé editing.

I got involved about a year ago with their communications, and I have had the pleasure to watch the organization not only bring nutritious meals to empty stomachs, but hope to those who need it the most. One special event that the nonprofit hosts for its clients is the annual Christmas party. They make a hot meal for the clients; offer free warm clothing from their clothing drive; have pictures with Santa for all of the children; prize giveaways; a petting zoo and Christmas caroling. This was a really awesome event that most of the clients would not be able to participate in without the help of ODB. 

This organization has changed the lives of their clients and will continue to help fight hunger and homelessness in Denton.    

http://ourdailybreaddenton.org/

Anti-Soulja Boy Disrespects the True Soldiers

This weekend marks the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, one of the most tragic events that forever changed our country. Unfortunately, this also means that American soldiers have been fighting terrorism in the Middle East for almost ten years. As an American, I don’t necessarily agree with all of the reasons why we are over there, nor do I believe that too much will change even if we do stay over there for another decade. Despite my personal views on our government and their decisions, I will always respect our troops, because I know I could never do what they do.

Americans are very opinionated and are privileged enough to have the freedom of speech to voice those opinions, but is there a point where people cross the line? Our military seems to think so. Last weekend, famous rapper Soulja Boy wrote a new song called “Let’s Be Real.” In the song the rapper blatantly disrespects the military by telling the “army troops” to “be [their] own man,” because they are not fighting for anything worth fighting for. Needless to say this did not set well with the military and their families.

His ignorance came back and bit him in the derrière within days of releasing his new song. Not only is this a touchy subject for Americans, but it is also a very sensitive time for our country as a whole. To say that our men and women in uniform are not fighting for anything is ignorant in itself – they are fighting for all of us and our freedoms. Without our men and women in uniform (both past and present), we would not have the freedom of speech that the rapper ignorantly exercised in his latest song.

This song pushed army personnel, veterans, military family members and proud Americans to petition to have Soulja Boy’s music banned from Army and Air Force bases across the country. The online petition has gained over 3,000 signatures within the first four days of being active. According to a spokesperson for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), Soulja Boy’s upcoming album, which features his anti-soldier tune, will not be carried in over 1,100 AAFES stores on military bases across the country.

A couple days after releasing this controversial song online, Soulja Boy issued a “heartfelt” apology insisting that he did not mean to disrespect our military, and that he was wrong to express his frustrations about the ongoing war in his bad choice of words. Then, he went on to discuss how Americans need to help the struggling Americans first. One journalist from E! News pointed out the fact that he spent $55 million on his own personal jet, but does not seem to have helped too many Americans other than himself.

If publicity from releasing his song was what the 21-year-old rapper wanted, he got it. It is too bad that his publicist did not inform him that there is such thing as bad publicity.

Stand Up Against the War on Lemons

Growing up I was always told, “When life gives you lemons make some lemonade.” Granted this was a way of teaching a disgruntled child a valuable lesson, but some of us actually took it literally and made the lemonade. The overachievers, like me, set up lemonade stands in the front yard and sold cups of the freshly squeezed juice for a quarter or sometimes two (depending on how much sugary goodness was added that day). 

A child’s lemonade stand should give adults nostalgic memories of childhood; however, adult, law enforcement officials are shutting down children’s lemonade stands; writing $500 tickets to children’s parents and even arresting people who are selling lemonade on public property. Sounds pretty ridiculous right? Unfortunately this pathetic national issue is very real and even more frivolous. It seems to me that our government loves to waste our nation’s law enforcement and financial resources, which also probably partially explains our $14.587 trillion debt as of August 11, according to the Wall Street Journal.

One of three incidents that occurred in Coralville, Iowa at the beginning of August involved four-year-old Abigail Krutsinger. According to KCRG News of Cedar Rapids, police shut down Krutsinger’s 25-cent lemonade stand that was located eight blocks away from the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Race Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).  Her stand (which made all of five bucks in the full 30 minutes it was open) went against an ordinance that protected bicyclists from “possible health issues.” According to local police, a permit to legally sell lemonade during the two-day race would cost Krutsinger $400. One parent actually laughed at the cop who told her this ridiculous information, which is probably a lot nicer than how I would have reacted if it was my kid.

It is understandable to have certain permits to sell food for events, but when does the enforcement of the law go too far? Krutsinger’s father seemed to think that the city crossed a line when they shut down his daughter’s lemonade stand. The little girl was only four at the time; she was not making a profit off of the stand (let’s face it plastic cups, sugar, lemonade mix and lemons cost more than five bucks these days) and she was a full eight blocks away from the race. Plus, the excuse from the city that they shut it down for health reasons is absurd. From my personal experience, I have never been harmed by lemonade sold by a child.

Since several cases of lemonade stands being shut down occurred, a national movement started and National Lemonade Freedom Day was created on August 20, 2011. So everybody mark your calendars for next year’s lemonade stand extravaganza, because it is tax free and the government might forever ban them.

This makes me wonder if government and law enforcement officials had childhoods deprived of the freshly squeezed juice. Officials across the country must have lost sight of their inner child and forgot the American way of the lemonade stand.   Maybe this is the issue with our government – well, one of many anyway.

 

I found this image on http://www.lemonadefreedom.com/