The O’Dwyer site has an interesting poll regarding what action Bill Cosby should take regarding the allegations against him.

The poll options given for the once product super are:

Lay low

Do an interview

Let his lawyer talk

Push back

As a rule, I don’t participate in polls because I find the questions are often limited to “yes” or “no” without any gray areas.

While the questions in the O’Dwyer poll are not limited to “yes” or “no” I find it impossible to cast an intelligent vote without knowing if the performer is guilty or not because my advice would be based on knowing the truth.

Here’s how I would vote on the Cosby poll if I knew the truth.

  • If Cosby is innocent I would advise him to push back. (But he better be able to prove that he is innocent and not just mouth it.)
  • If he is guilty, he should let his lawyer talk.

  • Doing interviews would be a no-no. Each interview would only lead to follow-up news stories rehashing the allegations.

I realize that the O’Dwyer polls are only a fractional and incomplete snap shot of the moment and the results are not indicative of how a crisis communication plan would be crafted.

But the O’Dwyer polls can be an important teaching tool at schools and agencies and also in providing management knowledge about the thought process of juniors.

This can be achieved by having communications majors answer the O’Dwyer polls and then craft a plan of action based on the student’s reply.

The same can be done at agencies, several newbies at a time.

As the great Oscar Hammerstein wrote inscribing a photo requested by a young Stephen Sondheim, “From your students you may learn.”

Another lesson that young PR people can learn from the Cosby situation is the inability of crisis specialists to lessen negative news during a crisis. In Cosby’s case, even if all the allegations against him cannot be legally proven, his reputation has been damaged beyond repair despite the best plans of crisis specialists.

In some ways the Cosby situation is similar to that of another entertainment venue – sports, especially the National Football League.

Occasionally, over the years some media reported on rumors about Cosby’s sexual actions but major media figures ignored the allegations when interviewing him, according to a recent Columbia Journalism Review on-line article.

The Cosby and Joe Paterno situations cry for those who live by the text book to include a chapter on the dangers of clients’ falling in love with stars of the moment. But I fear that even if the texts include such a chapter the PR and advertising industry wouldn’t pay attention because using stars to hawk a product is considerably easier than crafting an original sales pitch.

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Arthur Solomon was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations and sports business publications, consults on public relations projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at [email protected].