Planned Parenthood has run into a PR buzz saw.
The anti-abortion Center for Medical Progress (CMP) on Sept. 15 released a new undercover Planned Parenthood video on Tuesday. The video shows a number of Planned Parenthood officials discussing how issues around the use of fetal tissue could become a public relations problem for the organization.
“We’re trying to figure this out as an industry, about how we’re going to manage remuneration,” said a woman identified as Deborah VanDerhei, national director for the Consortium of Abortion Providers at Planned Parenthood, per The Hill. “Because the headlines would be a disaster.
“If you do decide that you want to engage in remuneration, then you need to, like, think that through, and think New York Times headline when you’re creating your policy,” she adds.
The latest video comes amid the GOP debate over whether to risk a government shutdown by blocking funding to Planned Parenthood because the organization has been accused of selling fetal tissue.
Planned Parenthood officials have argued the videos are part of a smear campaign and are taken out of context. They say the videos show that Planned Parenthood doesn't sell fetal tissue to profit but only to cover expenses.
It points out that government investigations in several states have found no wrongdoing, and that it only has fetal tissue donation programs in two states, California and Washington.
Selling fetal body parts—or any body parts—is against federal law.
The group has launched a public relations counteroffensive to drum up support. But that campaign continues to be overshadowed by the (staggered) release of the CMP videos.
What is more, there isn’t much evidence online—where more and more consumers live these days—Planned Parenthood is trying to get out from under the controversy and change the narrative.
For example, a visit to the organization’s website finds no mention of the campaign on its home page. There are several stories related to the video controversy within the website’s newsroom, but we wonder why one news item from August, titled, “Anti-Abortion Group Admits Falsifying Latest Video,” isn’t more prominently displayed. Talk about burying the lead.
A Google search for “Planned Parenthood video” generates several stories pertaining to the anti-abortion videos. However, a video message from Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards saying that the CMP allegations are false is difficult to find.
When a brand and organization incurs a serious crisis, media relations is just one aspect of trying to cauterize the wound. Online communications, social media channels, SEO and paid media need to be threaded into the overall response. And it can’t be one-shot deal, but a sustained effort, carried by senior PR executives.
It’s unlikely that Planned Parenthood faces an existential threat due to the CMP videos. But the videos have altered the perception of the organization, and may have sowed confusion among consumers as to what Planned Parenthood does with fetal tissue.
The onus is on Planned Parenthood to be more proactive in its communications and clear the air caused by the CMP videos. It needs to ramp up the existing campaign against the CMP videos and redefine the terms, lest the organization face further damage to its reputation, altered videos or no.
There’s a fine line between newsjacking and taking advantage, aka ambulance chasing. Our job as PR professionals is to tread it carefully.
PR firms need to be mindful of ways their work product may be protected by the attorney-client privilege whenever working with a client’s internal legal team or its external legal counsel.
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