Many are aware that Mark Penn is both Hillary Clinton's chief strategist and CEO of the PR firm Burson Marsteller. Penn's record and approach has been the subject of discussion on DailyKos including here, and here.
My focus in this diary is not so much on the litany of questionable characters Burson Marsteller has assisted. Every PR firm will be engaged in crisis management on behalf of clients. One shouldn't necessarily judge the attorney by the client. The focus of this diary is not on whom Penn's firm represents but, rather, how they do it in a way that is downright Rovian. The Countrywide Financial case is particularly revealing.
More after the fold.
Countrywide Financial was, until early this year, run by Angelo Mozilo. Under Mozilo's leadership Countrywide was one of the foremost predators in the business of issuing subprime loans. When the subprime mortgage crisis began to unfold in earnest last year Countrywide tasked Penn's firm (who had worked for Countrywide for several years) to manage the PR.
Burson Marsteller brought in a small host of consultants and rather than coming up with strategies to fix Countrywide's practices, admit mistakes and begin working with activist groups like ACORN they came up with the following:
The campaign, dubbed "Protect Our Home," was first reported in The Wall Street Journal. It aims to motivate both upper managers and regular employees in the company to soldier on despite the "attacks" on the company by competitors and the media.
...
Detailing the "Protect Our House" campaign, Gissinger rallied employees by telling them "Now it's personal!" and "We're not going to take it!"
The campaign's focus, he said, is that Countrywide is going "back on offense." In a "new attack strategy" planned to launch in the first week of October, the company will seek to portray itself to the media, employees, business partners, and customers as an ethical and profitable venture that is still "a great growth company."
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Countrywide staffers are being asked to sign a "Protect Our House Pledge" to support the effort. In return, they will receive a slogan-emblazoned wristband.
The combination of an attack-based approach denying any responsibility or wrongdoing in their subprime business along with forcing employees to sign loyalty pledges and wear yellow bracelets as a sign of loyalty does the opposite of build confidence in either Countrywide or Burson Marsteller. This campaign was not only terribly ineffective (updated) (Countrywide <bold>is in advanced talks to be acquired</bold> and Mozilo is likely to step down) but is also Rovian in the extreme. That a Clinton administration will bring along the Penn/Burson Marsteller approach to public relations and politics seems quite obvious given the way the campaign has unfolded. America, like Countrywide Financial, is ill-served by that approach. Moreover, one properly questions both the judgment and the ethics of leaders of organizations who, facing crises or campaigns, embrace the advice apparently provided by the "experts" at Burson Marsteller.
