Archive for July 2010
Can the Mel Gibson reputation ever recover?
Mel Gibson is once again in the news, well this time again not for his celebrity image, but the ‘Brave Heart’ actor seems to have lost it all. Gibson has been accused of slapping his ex-girl friend, Oksana Grigorieva twice on her face. If this was not enough, then the recorded racial slurs made by Gibson has put him in probably the worst backlash ever.
A glance at the chart and its plain that there are more negative contents and news about the star, with nothing much positive to report on Gibson these days.
Beware Corporate Wonk Humour Failure
1.3 million people have enjoyed Brian Maupin’s humorous attack on ignorant iPhone consumers and the equally amusing response. Everybody has laughed at the knowing humour except for some humourless corporate wonks at Best Buy who in spite of a total lack of connection between Best Buy and the video have suspended mobile salesman Brian Maupin on the basis that his video disparaged a brand they carried (iPhone/Apple) as well as the store itself and were fearful of stockholders & customers being turned off to Best Buy Mobile, as reported by Maupin.
In summary: individual makes funny comedic video about iphone buyers set in a magic roundabout setting without any branding or references to stores. BestBuy corporate HR department announce that it is about BestBuy and suspend employee.
Outcome: BestBuy corporate wonk sets up BestBuy brand to widespread derision for being humourless and painfully stupid. Incredibly, they have now made this a negative story about BestBuy, they have attacked a funny video and cut across the US freedom of speech rights. Arguably, what should happen is that they should have said nothing, or laughed it off. Why don’t they sack the corporate type responsible for this mess either because he has made BestBuy a laughing stock or, and why not, for being incredibly stupid.
Apple’s iPhone 4 Antenna Fiasco
You bought an Apple iPhone 4 and now you walk into one of their stores and say “My iPhone doesn’t work when I hold it in my left hand on the corner of that street.” Pat comes the reply, “Don’t hold it in your left hand and avoid going to that part of the street. That leaves you with the only option, hold your iPhone as suggested by Apple.
The antenna misery of the iPhone 4 has enraged many customers, but denial mode seems to be the norm in Apple camp. Steve Jobs’ rather arrogant response seems he is asking customers to think if calling and receiving calls on their iPhone is really important. Another taunting tone from Apple is like ‘We are working on it.” so chill down relax, enjoy your holidays it’s just a phone and not a big deal.
Steve needs to analyze why every time Apple introduces a new product, it results in more pissed-off customers. Look at the billions you spend only to develop some kind of crap or you think customers are stupid, and they don’t know to hold the iPhone?
As always it’s clear, Apple’s handling of this antenna thing is awful, it reminds me of how Steve handled his illness. If Apple’s customers unite and force them to fix the issue will that look good for the company?
Reputation Management For.com- conducted reputation survey on Google top 20 searches only to find Apple’s Reputation Ranking in a poor picture. Steve needs to wake up and smell the coffee, you messed up the whole issue by not respecting your customers. Though you are one of the few who never admits when you are wrong, this time it’s serious. Face it, tender an apology! Ensure your customers that you will do whatever needed to address customer worries.
