Evan Carmichael and a guest debate whether bad publicity damages brands, using Trump and Toronto mayor Rob Ford as examples of figures whose negative coverage became permanently attached to their image. The advice: stay authentic, know who you are, and don't chase controversy for attention.
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Zeno writing in, do you think there's such a thing as bad publicity? I understand media attention can be very helpful, but do you think there are ways in which it can hurt things you would want to avoid?
So I do think there is such thing as bad publicity. I do think that there are ways that it can hurt. The immediate example that comes to mind for me is Donald Trump. Right. So a lot of what we're seeing right now from him, yeah, he's all over the place. He's kind of dominating the news coverage in terms of the election right now, but a lot of people are also picking up on and pointing out the fact that some of his comments, you know, can be offensive or they rub people the wrong way and he's consistently doing it time after time after time. And so a lot of people are saying and thinking that this is eventually going to hurt him. And so it's great that there is, you know, a lot of media coverage that he's getting, but consistently, you know, offending people and things like that. Now, don't get me wrong, you got to take a stand on things and media people like that. But when you kind of cross that line where you're no longer respectful to people and doing that consistently, I think you run into issues where, you know, it could be detrimental instead of actually helping you. So that's just one example that came to mind for me when I saw that question.
Yeah, I have mixed feelings on it. I wonder if you asked Donald Trump what he would feel like, is that hurting his brand or not? Because he is getting an insane amount of coverage, and I'm sure a lot of people now hate him because of it, but then do people, do his supporters, the people who feel the same way now love him and get more exposure because of it? I don't know, I'm on the fence. The idea that came to my mind was Rob Ford, who was our mayor of Toronto. I don't know if the name means anything to you, but— He did a whole bunch of kind of really stupid things in the media, and it put Toronto on the map for a while in the US media, because a lot of times, you know, Canadian stuff isn't covered that much. But it was in a negative way, right? It wasn't put in a positive light. And I was just hearing yesterday on the radio, talking about the Blue Jays game, we're in the next round, go Jays go, and they're still referencing Rob Ford. Like, all Toronto is known for is the Blue Jays now, and Rob Ford. And I love my city. And it's kind of, I feel like it's a stain. As much as he put it on the map, it's also, he put it on the map in a negative way. So I don't know, I have mixed feelings on it. I don't have a great answer on that, but.
[Speaker] Yeah, I mean, because it is, you kind of never know how it's gonna shake down. And so to your point about Trump, it could, we'll still have to wait and see, right? If it's either gonna hurt him or if it's gonna help him. But in your case, like the example that you were given, that you were giving, you're right, you know, once something like that happens, it's kind of hard to separate yourself from that once that bad news is out there. So to the question of whether or not media coverage can in some way have the potential to be a bad thing, it can, because they can, you know, almost tattoo your brain for people what your brand is. So I think it can be a detrimental thing.
Yeah, I think so. In terms of what's the advice like? So this is the question, but then what's the advice that you would give to an entrepreneur around that?
Around just avoiding or because I mean, I don't have an easy answer for how to avoid it because like I said, on the one hand, you don't necessarily want to play everything safe. You have to take a stand, right? So I guess my advice is almost what you were saying before of know who you are and stay true to who you are. Don't do something just for the sake of trying to get publicity or because you know it's going to be controversial and get everybody's eyes on you. If that's not who you are, then I would say don't do it. So identify who you are, what you want to be known for, and stick to that and just tell your story.
Yeah. So would you give Trump advice to tone down, to say, listen, dude, you're going off the deep end?
I think with Trump is that, yeah, he— that is who he is. But my advice to him is to tone it down and to consider the fact that, listen, you know, you're running for presidency and especially for a title, for a position like that. Right. We're talking about an entire country where the votes that you want, this is a diverse set of people. So offending people, rubbing people the wrong way, you got to kind of take it easy. So, yeah, I would just advise that he tones it down just a little, just Hello.
