In the
spring of 2008, Democratic presidential primary candidate Hillary Clinton’s
chief advisor, Mark Penn, was involved in a heated controversy that landed him
in the media’s spotlight. The Colombian government hired his public relations
counseling firm to help them pass a free-trade pact. This was in direct
conflict with Clinton’s stance—which opposed the pact. And when Clinton’s
competitors saw the chance, they jumped on it.
Penn
should have quickly seen the conflict of interest and refused to work on the
Colombian account. He was working against himself, trying to oppose the pact
and confirm the pact at the same time. It not only made him look like a
hypocrite, but his clients as well. Although having both of these large
accounts could be very tempting, if you are CEO of a public relations agency
you should know that it is important to keep affiliations separate, and that
devotion to your clients is extremely important.
I
have always been a strong believer that you should admire the company that you
work for. If you don’t agree with what your organization or clients are saying
or doing and don’t think that you could stand behind their morals, then that’s
not the right place for you. Particularly from a public relations standpoint
where you have to show your clients in their best light and champion them to
public, you have to be honest about who they are and what they are about. And
if you don’t believe in them, then you will have to be dishonest. And in PR,
honesty is key.
Penn’s
decision to juggle both a public relations firm and a political candidate
campaign was probably not the best choice, because political candidates are
notoriously black-and-white on many key issues. The odds of all of your firm’s
clients and the candidate’s interests not overlapping would be very slim. In
order to represent both without conflict or inattention would be a very
difficult job to manage.
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