It is easy to look at the cry for cigarette sales to be reopened as a cry from ordinary South Africans dying (no pun intended) out of nicotine deprivation. But it is not. It is […]
Huffing and puffing over cigarettes
Hefner: A beneficiary of a biased court of public opinion
Hugh Hefner is dead. Long live The Hef. Love him or hate him, Hefner captured the world’s imagination living his dream surrounded by a posse of women and living with them in his Playboy Mansion. […]
The naked truth about Radebe’s crisis
The opening line of my Crisis Communication workshops is: “Bad news happens to anyone. It is a matter of when, not if.” Even if you are honest and always operate with the best of intentions, […]
Which lie or truth should the public believe about Brian Molefe?
If you are going pick a line (or a lie) stick to your story.
Zuma should have deflected Kathrada’s snub
In the film, Wag The Dog, less than two weeks before a president’s re-election bid, TV broadcast his involvement in a sex scandal in the White House. This is seen as potentially crippling to the […]
Collins Letsoalo, denials and the ill-fated media briefing
A few years ago I was consulting for a prominent South African who at some period was at the receiving end of bad press. For weeks on end the media had a major assault on […]
SONA: Zuma tries to soldier past a PR cul-de-sac
President Jacob Zuma has hit what I call public relations’ cul-de-sac. And this will be most visible at 7pm tonight when he delivers the State of the Nation Address (SONA). Exasperated by the turn of […]
#PaidTwitter: Lies and deceit have short legs
If you are going to do anything clandestine, do not have a fallout with your co-conspirators. This lesson was famously learnt by former US President Richard Nixon when someone snitched on him and his administration […]
Compassion: The missing link in the Ford Kuga PR circus
In May last year I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing Jeff Nemeth, Ford sub-Sahara Africa CEO. He came across as a reasonable man. It is for this reason that I am astounded and […]
When the spin doctor becomes the story
Government spokesperson Lumka Oliphant has thrown the country into a whirlwind with her social media post littered with profanities. If you haven’t seen the post, Google it. The long and short of her post was […]