When a PR crisis becomes an apocalypse
A PR crisis might go on for a few days or sometimes even few weeks. But with the Royal, formerly known as Prince Andrew, his own personal PR crisis has been destroying his standing and personal brand for an incredible 15 years.
You would have had to have been on the moon not to have heard about Andy’s arrest last week, but this blog isn’t about that. It’s about the handling, or lack of, of the PR crisis surrounding him for a decade and a half. If there was an award for the worst handled PR crisis in history Andy would win hands down. I’m going to go so far as to say it is the first PR apocalypse in living memory. Sure, there have been some disasters, but 15 years of trying to ride it out while his reputation had atomic bombs dropped on it? This has to be a first.
Now I’m not trying to be flippant here. Anyone in crisis communications knows it is often a difficult minefield to navigate. But we also know that you need to act swiftly, have empathy, be honest and transparent. Andy did none of these. The reason? I doubt it was bad PR advice (he was advised not to do the disastrous interview with Newsnight after all). Much more likely it was pure arrogance and hubris. Some of what has been printed or alleged may well not be true. But his flat denials in the face of mounting evidence stinks of a man who thought he was invincible.
Working in legal PR I know all too well that he may not have been able to say some things, such as admitting any crime that he may have perpetrated or witnessed, as he could have incriminated himself. But another rule of crisis comms is having empathy for the victims. He could have renounced Epstein’s sex crimes, spoken in stronger terms about how he regretted his association and spoken of the need to support victims of sexual abuse. But he didn’t. After the ill-fated Newsnight interview equality groups said he was “too stupid to even pretend concern for Epstein’s victims” after preferring to mention twice that his relationship with Epstein had some “seriously beneficial outcomes”.
As an aside the Palace have got their messaging spot on with “focusing on the victims” permeating their narrative. While tarnished by the rogue former prince, their PR machine has been protecting the monarchy with messaging that resonates with the public.
Apart from the abominable alleged crimes what gets me the most is that Andy will have known there was potentially more to come. He would have known there were files that the US government held and that they could be released. He must have known there were more photos, such as the one of him on all fours over a woman who looked like she had passed out. Yet still he lied about fundamental facts such as his last contact with Epstein.
Andy previously said he had not seen or spoken to Epstein after going to his house in New York in December 2010, a meeting which he described as a “wrong decision”. Yet an email revealed in January this year that an email was sent to Epstein in February 2011. Sickeningly he said: “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!”
As former Sun editor David Yelland said on his When it Hits the Fan podcast, you can only do PR if you have all the facts. How was any PR professional going to accurately be able to advise somebody when they don’t tell you of what could come out? The answer is they couldn’t.
The fact is if a PR crisis is handled correctly then there is a chance of redemption and of rebuilding a brand. But flat denials, a lack of any remorse or empathy and a brazen disregard of victims over 15 years is only going to end one way. From a PR perspective Andy deserves everything that has happened to him.
