PR Heavy Weight - Global

I am starting another blog post about PR disaster but on an international level. For sure it does not apply to most PR professionals here in Winnipeg, but I am passionate about the subject as I have always followed international news given my European and Asian experience. I believe being exposed to more international issues would broaden the horizon of PR professionals here.

My first case is about the business school of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Their EMBA program is the number EMBA program in the entire universe according to the Financial Times (higher than any EMBA program in Canada). A recent graduate of their MBA program developed an app for game called Towers of Saviors, which has made the developers millionaires. However, for those who have used the app find this app very similar to a game developed by a Japanese company which was also a blockbuster.

The problem for HKUST is that they have openly endorsed these two graduates AFTER they donated about $125,000 to the University by inviting them to talk about their success stories and on the HKUST Facebook page. Apparently it is not a PR disaster to HKUST as they simply do not care. However, given my previous experience with HKUST, it is totally consistent. HKUST cares about money and ranking but nothing else. For a PR professional, it is about choosing an organization that you agree with in terms of their ethical standard. I never intended and I will never work for HKUST, no matter how much they pay me. Seriously.

Another recent international disaster is the death of a soldier in Taiwan when he was in camp. Unlike the rest of China (i.e. Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau), Taiwan has developed a democratic society and I have been amazed time and time again by how civilized the society has become.

For this tragic incident, hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated right in front the equivalent of the White House demanding an explanation. Even movie stars have voiced their anger, which is extremely uncommon for the Chinese culture. No one single political party has tried to rally the people, it was (and still is) something that many citizens have chosen to do based on their free will. The consequence is the existing government has to answer the questions raised. A young man has died, and justice should be exercised. The Prime Minister Ma has not really said anything that satisfies the public, and it is a really PR disaster at the moment. It would be interesting to check out the development in a week.