Best of 2007

Here are a few of the Top Ten PR Blunders of 2007 according to Forbes:

1. "No Reporters? No Problem." (ABC News)

Already troubled by continued claims of inadequate disaster response and wasteful use of funds, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) truly fumbled when it held what the Washington Post described as a "phony press conference" in response to Southern California wildfires. "Questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters," "lob[bing] one softball after another so [Vice Administrator Harvey E. Johnson, Jr., could] praise FEMA's work," said the Post. Homeland Security Department head Michael Chertoff was reported by CNN, CBS and others to have said that "it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things [he has] seen since [he has] been in government."

3. "Why I Hate Race-Baiting Columns" (San Francisco Chronicle)

The true "what were they thinking" moment in this year's Blunders: when San Francisco's AsianWeek, the self-styled "voice of Asian America," published a brief column in February entitled "Why I Hate Blacks." The offensive piece ran in the middle of Black History Month in a publication based in what is supposed to be one of the most politically correct cities in the U.S. Filled with pejorative racial stereotyping, the column, by regular AsianWeek contributor Kenneth Eng, was described by Los Angeles Times columnist Erin Aubry Kaplan as "remarkably hateful ... most base and unsubstantiated." After public outcry, Eng was quickly terminated and apologies were issued through statements and at town hall meetings.

4. Iggy Come Home!

Ellen DeGeneres might have overdone it when she tearfully pled, during a taping of her popular talk show, for the return of Iggy, a dog she had previously adopted and given to her hairdresser's family after it took issue with her cats. On the other hand, Mutts & Moms, the agency she adopted it from, probably wasn't making the right decision when it repossessed the dog from its new family -- aggressively, on video, prompting criticism and threats from Ellen's fans after she gave them the tearful play-by-play. San Francisco Chronicle television critic Tim Goodman noted that " ... if you're Mutts & Moms, you've got to be thinking, 'Well, I guess we should have hired a real public relations person instead of Betty's daughter from payroll.'"

Number 3 is entertaining. As I've mentioned, the Chinese are not amused by blacks - terrified is a better word.