The London Daily Telegraph website reports that Peter Kanelos — the Wal-Mart PR manager behind the ad that equated the retailer to victims of the Nazis — has resigned. One wonders what his next job will be.
Kanelos is said to have been responsible for the ad, which appeared in the Arizona Daily Sun featuring an historic photo of Nazi supporters throwing books into a huge fire.
Wal-Mart also has canned HighGround, the Phoenix, AZ -based PR, “positioning and messsaging” company that created the ad. The president of HighGround said at the time of the fracas, “We will not back away from substance of the ads . . . People make mistakes. They move on,” he said. Yeah, to the next client.
Wal-Mart Fires Agency Responsible for Nazi Image Ad and PR Manager Resigns
BL Ochman | June 12, 2005 | Permanent Link | Comments (3) | TrackBack (
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/gnp0fnhzxcgi/domains/whatsnextblog.com/html/wp/wp-content/themes/WNO2/single.php on line 32
0)
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/gnp0fnhzxcgi/domains/whatsnextblog.com/html/wp/wp-content/themes/WNO2/single.php on line 32
0)
Categories: Advertising Campaigns, Business Communications, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations, Worst Practices
Tags:
Tags:
Well, the firm and local PR manager resigned. I think canned might be a wee bit harsh of a term. According to the AP article on June 9 (http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap06-09-162225.asp?t=apcom&vts=6920051654), and others prior, HighGround had already resigned the account.
I agree that the “move on” comment was slightly offensive. It smacked of “certain whiny groups can’t get over the Holocaust” to me.
Wal-mart PR guy goes bye-bye
Twice this morning I’ve read things either directly or indirectly using nazi references and I’m not even a quarter through with reading. Just did a search and it appears that I’ve never used that ‘n’ word here on this blog in nearly 2,000 entries and w…
PR Consequences
The second involved a senior PR executive for Wal-Mart Stores who used an image of Nazi book-burning in a print ad campaign to make his point on a local real estate issue.
Both efforts were ill-advised, and wound up costing each executive his job….