June 19, 2017
McDonald’s Abandons the Olympics
McDonald’s recently announced it would be parting ways with the Olympic Games after nearly five decades of public partnership. The fast food chain has been linked with the Games since 1968 when the company delivered burgers to athletes competing in the Grenoble Winter Games.
June 12, 2017
Puerto Rico Pushing for Statehood
Almost lost in all the contention and politicking since the inauguration of Donald Trump this past January is the momentum building in the statehood push for Puerto Rico. Recently elected Governor Ricardo Rossello is working hard to build a coalition to demand statehood for one of the United States’ closest territories.
June 7, 2017
Chipotle Hack Has Customers Concerned
Chipotle is in the news again, and, once again, the headlines will lead to a public relations problem for the company. According to multiple media outlets, many different Chipotle locations fell victim to a hacking attack that allowed the perpetrators to gain access to credit card information of customers.
May 31, 2017
LeBron James Doesn’t Care if He’s the GOAT
As his Cleveland Cavaliers approach yet another NBA Finals, superstar LeBron James continues to be mentioned in the same conversation as others considered to be the Greatest Of All Time. Is he better than Jordan? Better than Bird? Better than Magic or Kareem or any of the others often held up as the best to ever dribble a basketball. Ask most of these guys, and they’ll likely say “it’s me.” Ask LeBron, and King James may just shake his head.
May 9, 2017
Check Out My Interview with Haute Living
I recently gave Haute Living a look inside my office, showed them the most essential items on my desk, and gave them insights to the way I run my agency, 5W Public Relations.
May 9, 2017
Apple Fund Plans to Support Manufacturing Jobs
In the recent Presidential election, the concept of “bringing back” manufacturing jobs played a big role, both in the rhetoric and the outcome. Some say that was all smoke and mirrors, that old school assembly line manufacturing isn’t coming back anytime soon, and if it does, ever, it will be robots, not people, doing the assembly.
May 5, 2017
What the 2017 Coral Sea Gala was Like
I recently attended the annual dinner commemorating the World War II Battle of the Coral Sea. I occasionally contribute to the Observer, so I shared my experience of the evening with them.
The black-tie event was held aboard the hangar deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid, an iconic New York City museum and a historic American vessel – but it certainly was not a New York, or even American, crowd. Among the few prominent New Yorkers present at the event were former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; Rabbi Arthur Schneier of Park East Synagogue; and Marcus Moufarrige of Servcorp. Rupert Murdoch, News Corp founder and an Australian-born U.S. citizen, introduced the president.
During his speech, Donald Trump thanked US and Australian military heroes. He also thanked Australian Prime Minister Turnbull for reaffirming the alliance between the US and Australia. Trump and Turnbull met face-to-face for the first time at the gala.
April 24, 2017
Bebe Latest Retailer to Shutter Stores
The death watch for American retail stores continues as shoppers are still choosing online over buying at branded department stores. The latest casualty is Bebe, which defined its brand as a “unique sophisticated and timelessly sexy” line of ladies clothing. Apparently, customers did not agree … at least not enough of them to keep the brick and mortar aspect of the brand afloat. According to reports in CNN, Bebe will close all its 168 brick and mortar shops in the United States and Canada.
April 20, 2017
How This Baby Supply Maker Dealt with Toxic Teether
US regulators advised Highland to pull and recall its teething tablets due to a “potentially toxic” level of herbs in the medicine. Standard Homeopathic Co. of Los Angeles, the company that makes the Highland brand teething tablet quickly complied with the request, issuing a recall of an unspecified quantity of the products. They also ceased manufacturing the product last fall, and now they have notified distributors to pull any products currently on the shelves.
April 10, 2017
Wells Fargo’s Full Page Mea Culpa
Sometimes, when you’re the boss, you have to take the bullet, even if it’s not your fault. Such is the story of new Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan’s open letter on the pages of major newspapers, coast to coast. When a company makes a huge mistake, there are two big questions that immediately arise: “who will take responsibility?” and, “will consumers accept that?”