Cos for alarm

Arguably, it’s the story of the year: as of December, 27 women have now accused Bill Cosby of rape or sexual assault. For anyone who grew up with “The Cosby Show,” the idea that America’s dad may be a serial rapist is indeed harrowing, and perhaps that’s why rumors of Cosby’s inappropriate behavior haunted the Internet and tabloid briefs for years until a growing number of victims emerged from the shadows and finally forced the press to take notice, sharing eerily similar stories regarding non-consensual encounters with Cosby that go back decades.

None of these accusations have been made in a court of law — not yet, anyway — but in the court of public opinion, the fallout has been significant. Live dates were cancelled, NBC killed a series in development, and Netflix pulled a planned comedy special. The harried Huxtable was also hit with a lawsuit in December from a woman who claimed he assaulted her in 1974, when she was 15, and Vanity Fair published a bombshell article by a former model who said Cosby drugged her in 1986. Cosby has since resigned from Temple University’s board of trustees, and his Chief Petty Officer award from the United States Navy was revoked.

So far, the beleaguered Bill has refused to directly address the claims, and has opted for legal succor over PR. They say silence grants the point; Mel Gibson and Paula Deen have staged comebacks in the face of abhorrent behavior, but some actions are simply too horrible, too abominable to be forgiven. It doesn’t take a crisis expert to see that Cosby is done.

Donald’s not-so-Sterling reputation

Los Angeles Clippers franchise owner Donald Sterling made the most expensive phone call of his life in September 2013, when then-girlfriend V. Stiviano recorded a racist tirade in which he told her not to bring black people to Clippers games. When Stiviano’s recording was made public in April, the NBA responded by fining Sterling $2.5 million, banning him from games for life, and forcing him to sell the team. Sterling’s remarks — which were made in the privacy of his home, and were recorded without his permission — are a bellwether for the age, where an intersection of technology and social convention proves that every conversation is a potential weapon. Sterling only managed to make the comments worse in a May train-wreck mea culpa interview with Anderson Cooper, in which he proceeded to trash-talk Magic Johnson and the former player’s stature as a role model.

The NFL fumbles (again)

Last year, the National Football League was fined nearly $800 million in a massive brain damage lawsuit brought on by former players, news reports detailed football’s widespread culture of hazing and bullying, and Native American groups rallied a PR attack on The Washington Redskins’ name.

Just when it appeared the smoke was beginning to clear, we have the Ray Rice fiasco. In February, Baltimore Ravens Running Back and fiancée (now wife) Janay Palmer were arrested after a physical altercation in an Atlantic City elevator, during which Rice allegedly assaulted Palmer with a blow so severe it knocked her unconscious.

Rice was indicted in March for third-degree aggravated assault and suspended for two games. However, when celebrity news site TMZ in September released shocking video surveillance of the actual elevator assault, then and only then did the Ravens terminate his contract (he was also indefinitely suspended by the NFL, though that ruling was overturned).

This should have been Rice’s crisis to bear alone. However, the NFL’s hands were tarnished when it failed to adequately punish the player until the video became public, even though the league had been aware of the incident for many months.

GM’s faulty reputation

According to an October Washington Post report, 2014 was the worst year on record for auto recalls in the U.S., with an estimated 50 million American cars and trucks — or one in five vehicles on the road — being the subject of some technical flaw. Leading the charge was General Motors, which allegedly allowed several of its line of cars to leave the factory gates with faulty ignition switches that could cause the engine to turn off while driving. The switches were blamed on 31 crashes and 13 deaths.

The company recalled several million vehicles by February, but GM really went into crisis mode when it was discovered that some executives had been aware of the ignition defect, and even held meetings regarding the issue, as far back as 2005. The “Switchgate” debacle resulted in a Justice Department investigation, a $35 million fine from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a total of 45 recalls by summer, accounting for nearly 25 million U.S. cars.

Sony drops the curtain for a dictator

Sony Pictures Entertainment essentially managed to squander its image twice by the end of 2014. First, cybercriminals committed a massive security breach against the company, leaking a trove of hypersensitive information, including films and scripts, employee salaries, and a mortifying yarn of private email exchanges between executives regarding Hollywood stars like Angelina Jolie. Soon thereafter, the cyber-terrorists issued a warning to U.S. moviegoers, claiming that if theaters screened Sony’s Christmas film “The Interview” — a lowbrow comedy whose plot involves the assassination of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un — the U.S. would be attacked.

Giving proof to the claim that sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction, the U.S. government in December determined that North Korea was “centrally involved” in the Sony cyber attack. With comedic bluster that has become North Korea’s trademark, the hermetic republic claimed they didn’t hack Sony, but said the U.S. should be prepared for retaliation if they released the movie anyway. Impossibly, Sony pulled the film as a result of the threats, a move chided even by President Obama.

It could be argued that producing a film deemed a declaration of war would birth unimaginable marketing opportunities. However, capitulating to North Korea sent the message that Sony was weak, and worse, that dictators abroad can theoretically censor U.S. entertainment. As a result of the ordeal, The New York Times’ David Carr on December 21 christened Kim Jong-un “America’s newly self-appointed minister of culture.”

SeaWorld’s reputation flounders

For four years now, SeaWorld Entertainment has been embattled in a crisis after the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was killed by the marine park’s orca, Tilikum.

It wasn’t until 2014, however, when the backlash grew palpable. Last year the documentary “Blackfish” was released, which detailed the abhorrent conditions to which SeaWorld’s orcas are subjected. The negative publicity apparently had an impact on profits: SeaWorld’s attendance dropped 5% from the previous year, and the company’s stock is down 50%.

In response to the criticism, SeaWorld announced strides to improve its orca facilities. In August, executives announced that the marine park plans to double the water capacity of its orca tanks, will create an independent advisory panel consisting of scientists and academics, and finally, fund $10 million in ocean health programs.

So far, that plan has done little to move the needle financially, and in December, it was announced that CEO Jim Atchinson had been demoted to a Vice Chairman slot. SeaWorld also announced a forthcoming restructuring program that’s intended to slash operations and jobs.

The police can’t police themselves

To say that police departments across the country are suffering from a reputation problem would be an understatement. Police in Beavercreek, Ohio shot and killed an unarmed 22-year-old man carrying a toy gun in a Wal-Mart; a rookie cop in November fatally shot an unarmed man who was walking through a housing project stairwell with his girlfriend in Brooklyn; a police officer in Cleveland killed a 12-year-old boy who was playing in a park. Then there were the high-profile cases: officer Darren Wilson’s shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; and officer Daniel Pantaleo’s chokehold death of Eric Garner in Staten Island. Both of those events — as well as police officers’ subsequent non-convictions — resulted in protests, looting, and vandalism.

The public’s trust in law enforcement has disappeared, and relationships between communities and police have grown strained in many parts around the country. Cops, both for their own sake as well as the communities they serve, would do well to improve their public image. Community-building protocols, as well as leaders within local law enforcement jurisdictions who demand accountability, are in order. Instead, police, their lawyers, and their unions, have mostly constructed a you’re-with-us-or-you’re-against-us rubric in the wake of these incidents, as can be seen in the New York police union’s recent treatment of mayor Bill de Blasio, who recently stated that he had instructed his biracial son to be careful around police.

Uber calls for press drive-by

After a year of bad publicity from blogs like Gawker, TechCrunch, and PandoDaily, who have called the popular ridesharing service company out for everything from cut-throat tactics to alleged sexism, Uber decided to fight back. The company had been in the middle of a sort of press apology tour, when Uber Senior Vice President Emil Michael suggested during a November private event that Uber dig up personal details on the backgrounds of journalists who have reported negatively about the company. As it turns out, a BuzzFeed editor was at this event, and reported about the suggested plan the next day, a story that was picked up by virtually every major news outlet around the country. Michael later apologized and claimed he was merely “venting” and thought that the event was off the record.

The company got a double-whammy in December when it was sued by district attorneys in San Francisco and Los Angeles for allegedly misrepresenting its drivers’ background checks, as well as charging bogus fees to customers.

Public blunders in the Secret Service

In September, Omar Gonzalez, a 42-year-old Iraq vet who suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, scaled the White House fence, sprinted across the lawn, and breached the front door of the building. A later investigation revealed the man managed to run through the main floor of the building, then made it as far as the East Room, and even overpowered one secret service agent. He was also carrying a knife in his pocket and possessed a cache of 800 rounds of ammunition in a nearby vehicle. The Department of Homeland Security enacted an internal probe to determine how such a breach could have occurred, and as a result of the incident, Julia Pierson, the first female Director in the agency’s 148-year history, resigned on October 1 (the same day, it was revealed that a security guard with a gun and criminal record had boarded an elevator with the President during a trip to Atlanta). An independent review in December concluded that the Secret Service is “beyond its limits” and needs training, and that recent budgetary woes had made an impact on current training hours.

CIA’s tortuous missteps

A Senate Intelligence Committee report released in December offered shocking insights into the detainee interrogation methods employed by the Central Intelligence Agency in the years following the September 11 attacks. The 528-page executive summary — the result of five years of investigative work — detailed sleep deprivation, ice water baths, unapproved waterboarding techniques that nearly killed one detainee, and a horrifying process referred to as “rectal rehydration.”

The report also found that interrogators threatened the families of detainees and wrongfully detained 26 individuals who had done nothing wrong. The report concluded that the program was often ineptly managed, that the CIA routinely mislead the Bush administration and the public on its operations, and ultimately, that the information it obtained via enhanced interrogation lacked any value whatsoever.