What was Volkswagen thinking?

On September 18, 2015, not even one week ago, perhaps what could be the biggest automotive scandal of all time was revealed.  Volkswagen, one of the most popular and powerful companies in the world, has been accused – and thus has admitted – to deliberately cheating emissions standards on close to 11 million of their cars worldwide. 

One may think that an automotive scandal that involves loss of life would most definitely be worse than one that only involves faulty emission reports.  For example, Toyota received a significant amount of bad press regarding failing breaks in their Prius model.  It caused serious injury and even death to some drivers.  However, that was not a deliberate attempt to circumvent authorities and standards in order to sell more cars, or to falsely advertise to the public and gain a competitive advantage over other companies.

In order to falsify emissions, Volkswagen fitted some of their production models with software that was designed to fool emissions tests.  The engines of said models were designed so they could sense when tests were occurring by measuring factors such as speed, air pressure, the positioning of the steering wheel and engine operation.

Although this “defeat device” has only been discovered in Untied States thus far, Italy, South Korea and France have already opened their own investigations into Volkswagen models being sold domestically. 

For Volkswagen, aside from the enormous PR crisis and the tremendous damage to their company image, they are facing potentially massive fines by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Deceit of this magnitude can result in fines of up to $37,500 per car, and with Volkswagen recalling almost 500,000 cars in the United States alone, fines could be as high as $18 billion, and this does not include the costs of recalling vehicles, just fines.

To make matters worse, company CEO Martin Winterkorn has resigned.  He had run the company since 2007.  To read more about his resignation, click here.  

The never-ending saga of the New England Patriots

It will just not end.  The New England Patriots, perhaps the NFL’s most polarizing franchise, has been accused of cheating once again.  If this is your first time hearing about this you may want to get out from under that rock in which you’ve been living. 

“Deflategate” – the new controversy the Patriots have found themselves embroiled in – involves deflating footballs below the acceptable amount to gain an illegal competitive advantage in games.  This occurred in their conference championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.  Despite the final score of 45-7, many people doubt what kind of effect it really had on the game. 

A subsequent investigation was launched into the incident to see if deflating the footballs was a deliberate action or an unintended result of bad weather or simple human error.

After a series punishments handed down by the NFL onto the Patriots and star quarterback Tom Brady were protested in federal court, the patriots went away unscathed.  This decision, much like the Patriots franchise, has been polarizing.  Some are overjoyed, while others are furious.

However, although the Patriots being involved in another cheating scandal (after their “spygate” scandal in the early 2000s) may seem like a PR nightmare, the real loser of this case has been NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the man who decided and handed down the punishments onto Brady and the Patriots.

Brady was initially suspended 4 games without pay, a very harsh punishment to say the least, especially when regarding past disciplinary actions put in place by the NFL. 

For example, when Ray Rice was caught on video physically assaulting his fiancé, he was only suspended 2 games.  The problem here for the NFL is the complete lack of consistency in the punishments handed down to players. 

If there were justifiable reasons to distinguish why a player who beat his fiancé to receive a lesser suspension than someone who may have tampered with footballs, then Brady may not have had his suspension overturned by a judge. 

The problem is it seems Goodell comes up with his disciplinary actions by whim.  There is no concrete decision making behind them, making everyone second-guess his authority and then appeal his rulings, several of which have thus been overturned. 

Goodell is on thin ice as the NFL Commissioner.  He needs to establish his credibility – along with the credibility of the league – in the eyes of the public and media because as of the moment, he and the league are in question.

Now whatever you do, please don’t take this article as me being a supporter of the Patriots.  If it weren’t for Goodell and his inconsistent decision-making, the spotlight would still be on the Patriots and their credibility.  Luckily for them, they have a “savior” in the name of Roger Goodell.

The curious case of Donald Trump

Even though the 2016 Presidential Elections are over a year away, an abundance of hype and controversy has begun through campaigns, debates and scandals involving certain presidential hopefuls. 

One of these hopefuls, Hilary Clinton, is currently trying to explain (although some might say cover her tracks) her role in security breaches from using unsafe servers.  However, she still remains the heavy favorite for the Democratic party.  Other potential nominees, such as Donald Trump, have taken people aback in other ways – much more “in your face” ways.

Prior to the 2012 Presidential election, Trump announced he would be running for president, but nothing ever formulated from his claims.  However, this time things have been very different.  Trump has taken his abrasive and boisterous personality in front of the entire nation and has vaulted to the top of the Republican candidate polls by a significant margin. 

Essentially, he’s become the quintessential case of “love him or hate him.”  There is simply no in between with Trump.  Maybe that’s how it should be.  Based on what he’s already said in his brief campaign, Trump himself sees many things that way himself. 

His remarks on Mexican immigrants have been heavily criticized.  Trump claims that Mexicans who cross the border into the United States are full of problems, such as drugs and other crimes such as rape, and goes as far to call them rapists.  A divisive statement to say the least, one many campaign managers would cringe to hear their candidate say.  However, it’s comments like this that have given Trump momentum.  Some people love Trump for his boldness in saying for these remarks, and others despise him for it. 

From a PR standpoint, having a candidate say something like this – something not just offensive and derogatory, but divisive – could be considered a crisis all in its own.  However, this is the curious case of Trump.  He is gaining momentum and power for his outlandish and bombastic remarks. 

Yes, he is receiving his very fair share of flack, but as of the moment, that doesn’t seem to be hurting him as he sits atop the Republican polls.  We will have to wait and see whether or not statements like this will work for Trump as his campaign continues and if he is fortunate to win the republican nomination. 

Appealing to one party is different than appealing to the entire nation.  His approach may have to change.  Depending on how well he does this election, it would be a very interesting case study – from a public relations standpoint – to examine what worked and what didn’t for Trump. 

“Measure what Matters”

As I have now finished this book, I can look back at the value it has.  As the landscape of social media constantly changes, this book may become outdated within the next few years (in terms of some its recommended methods) but as of the moment, it is a great tool for PR practitioners.

The perception a business has is the most important thing.  A business’s image, whether good or bad, can single-handedly determine the success or failure of said business.  It doesn’t matter how ethically upstanding the business may be.  If it has the public perception of being morally corrupt the business will suffer.  This is why measuring public perception is of utmost importance.

With the rapid development of interactive social networks over the past decade or so, communities that businesses market to have become more blended and connected with one another.  Business perception from one community can leak into another community due to everyone being connected, especially with a website like Twitter.  Due to twitter’s real-time updates and design, people don’t necessarily have to go looking for information, as it may be found by accident. 

Another significant point in measure what matters is monitoring public perception to see how two competitors are viewed.  When measuring, a benchmark is always needed, as is a meter of success.  Therefore, if a company can have a better perception in the eyes of consumers, this would be a benchmark as well as a method of measuring success. 

The foreign language of sleep

What is sleep?  Sleep is something I don’t partake in anymore, that’s what.  As of this moment, I have gone a little more than 33 hours straight without sleep.  If you know me personally or have read some of my previous blogs, you may know I am no stranger to staying up all night or going long periods without sleep.  Most college students are more adept to it than others.

It’s kind of a cultural thing in college to undervalue sleep.  If I use a lot of caffeine and stay active I usually can stay awake for as long as I need to.  But I’m sure it depends on the person.  Over the summer I had similar experiences to this.  I worked three jobs (more or less cause two of them were part time) and had one instance where in a span of 72 hours I had 7 hours of sleep.  Even without working, a healthy dose of sleep over three days is between 18 and 24.  It was a kind of living hell at certain points, especially when working third shift. 

Right now though, there’s just under two weeks left of school, or should I say, “under two weeks left of not sleeping.”  There are probably many other students who are in similar circumstances I am.  After all, misery does love company.

The Cosby Nightmare

Bill Cosby, a stand up comedian who has seen profound success in his life of comedy and television, is currently the target of several accusations of sexual misconduct from several different women.  The allegations range from serving alcohol to and then molesting minors, forcefully kissing women and then date rape.  As of the moment, 21 different women have come forward claiming Cosby drugged and raped them.  One of the accusers, P.J. Masten, claims she knows of at least 12 other women who are frightened and too embarrassed to come forward.   That would put the potential number at least 33. 

Several of the women who have come forward against Cosby are former Playboy bunnies or were affiliated with playboy, either working in one of Playboy’s clubs or being an actual model for the company.  Cosby is accused of a variety of despicable actions, most of which consist of drugging and then raping women.  Cosby was no stranger to playboy and was always welcome at the Playboy mansion.  He and Hugh Hefner have been close friends for decades.  One of the girls accusing Cosby of misconduct, Judy Ruth, says she was just 15 years old when he molested her at the Playboy Mansion. 

Cosby’s lawyer has denied all accusations, saying they are “completely false” and claims they are attempted extortion.  Not much has been said from the Cosby camp besides this.  The public accusations have supposedly inspired a lot of private conversations among former Playboy models.  Masten claims some of these women have personally texted her and said they were victims of Cosby, too.  It will be very interesting to see how Cosby will respond if more women come out and accuse him, the man accused of being a “serial rapist.” 

If you want to read more about the Cosby scandal, you kind find it here. 

Thanksgiving break

I found Thanksgiving break to be very enjoyable.  It provided a time to relax and recharge after a couple of difficult weeks.  It seemed for some of my classes professors wanted to get some things out of the way before the final few weeks of school, which was probably a good idea in retrospect.  Besides the all-nighters I had to endure sometimes, it wasn’t all that bad because I expected it. 

Over break, I was both lazy and productive at the same time.  To my surprise, I actually did work on some schoolwork.  But then I slept until one at least every day besides for Thanksgiving, when I slept until about noon.  I have a feeling I’m not the only returning student who did this though. 

I was also able to spend some time with my family and friends from back home and my favorite football team (the Eagles) won on Thanksgiving day which made it all the better.   In addition, I may have actually finalized my spring break plans (see previous blog, “vacations on breaks”) which is especially exciting for me considered I’ve never traveled on spring break. 

The one downside, it went unbelievably fast.  It’s hard for me to believe how fast it went.  However, when I look at the date and realize that there is only a little more than two weeks left in the semester, I’m left wondering where on earth this semester went, let alone the fact I’ve posted 40 blogs counting this one.  Thanksgiving break, along with this semester, have gone incredibly fast.