Why Woman Don't Get Caught In Sex Scandals

Last week, when yet another male politician/celebrity, Rep. Anthony Wiener, confessed to sexting a young woman among others, the whole situation seemed almost laughable. He confessed his "terrible mistakes" and declared himself "deeply sorry for the pain" he caused. What is with these guys? Do these influential men never think they will get caught? Now we can just put Wiener in the same category as: Mark Sanford, Eliot Spitzer, John Ensign, John Edwards and Bill Clinton to name a few.

It may be easy to simply say this is bad male behavior or to dismiss it as a testosterone-induced, hard-wired connection between sex and power - powerful men attract women, powerful women repel men. And some may say that working women are just too busy to cheat on men.

However, these is substantial evidence that shows there are differences between the women and men who try to get a head in politics. Women tend to join in politics to help a reason they are wanting to change. More of them want to make a difference than men. Men tend to run because they see it as a career path they want to conquer.

Women tend to not want to get involved unless they know it is something they are passionate about. Men tend to just look at other politicians, and say ' I can do that.'

Another reason women may not cheat in politics is that they feel they need to do more to compete with their male colleagues. They feel the pressure to do well is much greater than men do.

I'm not saying that women are immune to sex scandals. I'm just saying that their is a trend with men, and I'm not sure women politicians could overcome these obstacles like some of their male counterparts have.

Whatever the reason for the difference, I think maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask more women to join into politics and that it shouldn't be so off balance. I was inspired to write this post after watching the This Week report. Let me know your thoughts please!

Bad PR move for Apple? Steve Jobs ticks off his rivals

Apple CEO, Steve Jobs and antennagate aren't out of the news yet. Instead of of just offering up a quick apology and a free case for the iPhone 4 reception issues, Jobs fired up many smartphone competitors during the press conference last Friday.

Jobs pointed out antenna issues on phones from RIM, Motorola and HTC. He stated that they experienced the same dropped calls if gripped on the side in poor signal areas.

CEOs from RIM, who makes the Blackberry, and Motorola are miffed with Jobs for dragging their names through the mud with him, as if that was going to take the heat off of Apple a bit.

"Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable," say Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, co-CEOs of Research In Motion, which makes the BlackBerry. "RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovation designs, which reduce the risk for reduced calls."

"It is disingenuous to suggest that all phones perform equally," Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha says in a statement. "In our own testing, we have found that (Motorola's) Droid X performs much better than iPhone 4 when held by consumers."

Apparently, the PR team at Apple thought it would be a good idea to make sure those who haven't purchased an iPhone 4 yet were informed about the short-comings of the competition.

Is that a brilliant public relations move for Apple or just another lame attempt to keep people from straying because their are so many smartphone choices?

Oh Mel...

I've been a fan of Mel Gibson for a long time and until a couple of years ago he was one of the most well-respected and highly-paid actors in Hollywood. I can't understand why he is ruining his career and personal life. In 2006, Gibson was arrested after drunk driving and making anti-Semitic comments. (However, those comments were expunged from the arrest report.) Then last year he went through a divorce with his wife of 28-years, and who he had five children with, because he had an affair and got pregnant Oksana Grigorieva, who he eventually married. Now, he's going through another divorce with Grigorieva, because she claims he's been verbally abusive (claiming Gibson uses foul and threatening language towards her as well as the N-word) and physically abusive. Mel is not new to being an adult, so I'm not sure why he's making such poor decisions. Is the scandal with Oksana the last straw for Mel Gibson's movie career?

Mel needs to make a serious effort to save his public relations. Last Friday, after the news broke, Gibson's agency, William Morris Endeavor dropped him. Then Monday, new audio surfaced, capturing more of the former A-lister's angry and expletive-laden rant to ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, I'm beginning to wonder if anyone will want to have him in their film or any audience would want to go see a movie starring Gibson.

Now, the LA County Sheriff's Dept. is investigating the actor in a domestic abuse case because Gibson seems to acknowledge that he hit Grigorieva, the mother of his child, when he responds to her mention of him hitting her by saying, "you... deserved it."

After all this, I can't say I still think highly of the man. And, I'm not sure I would go see a film that had anything to do with him. However, I can't say this is the end for his career success. If Mel wants to make a comeback, as I said before he needs to make a serious effort. He should make an apology and admit he needs to figure out what is wrong with him, whether it be alcohol abuse, drug abuse, etc. Then he needs to recognize that he has a problem and show how he is going to solve it.

Mel Gibson is an artist and knows how to produce good work. He needs to focus on this self-quality and maybe if he produces great work again, he can resurrect his public image. However, this situation is a catch-22. He needs to resurrect his public image before a studio would probably hire him to work.

What do you think? Would you go see a movie produced by Gibson or starring Gibson?

The BP Oil Spill PR Catastrophe

BP, the British company, is working frantically to stay ahead of the growing disaster and the blow to its carefully manicured image of environmental responsibility. However, the way in which their image is repaired really depends upon how they handle this whole situation. This whole story makes me extremely upset, especially after seeing the movie Oceans just last week. It's a public relations disaster, especially after all the new CEO has done to redo BP's image. I think it will take people a long time to shake this off their minds, but so far I believe BP has done a decent job (besides their initial downplay of the spill) responding to this crisis and taking responsibility for their mess. I just think their emergency plan has taken too long to activate.

Seeking to blunt criticism of its emergency response, the British oil giant BP vowed Friday to harness all of its resources to battle the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as the company worked frantically to stay ahead of the growing disaster and the blow to its carefully constructed image of environmental responsibility.

Louisiana and federal officials said BP's efforts so far were "not adequate" and that the London company should do more, even ask for help from competitors, to contain the approximately 5,000 barrels of oil leaking each day after last week's sinking of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon.

On Friday BP mounted a spirited defense of its work to seal the leaking oil well and contain the spill, which could surpass the1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska's Prince William Sound as the worst in U.S. history. BP is the majority owner of the oil field and, with its partners, is spending about $7 million a day on the problem while BP's falling stock price has sliced about $25 billion from the company's market value.

BP said it took responsibility for the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and said they will clean it up and pay all necessary and appropriate clean-up costs. "We are determined to fight this spill on all fronts, in the deep waters of the gulf, in the shallow waters and , should it be necessary, on the shore," said BP Group Chief Executive Ton Hayward.

BP has a lot to defend. In recent years, BP has spent heavily to position itself as an environmentally friendly company, redesigning its logo into a green-and-yellow sunburst and advertising its $4-billion alternative-energy push to move "beyond petroleum." In addition, BP has been plagued by safety problems, including a March 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery, which killed 15 workers and injured about 170.

Hayward became CEO only three years ago and has worked hard to restore the company's public image. This week, after an initial bobble in which the company downplayed the size of the leak at about 1,000 barrels a day, BP appears to be doing many things well to avoid outrage, down to framing itself as an ally fighting against a common enemy, experts said.

Federal officials shut down fishing from the Mississippi River to Florida Panhandle on Sunday. Sadly, the environmental disaster is still expected to take at least a week to cut off.

The Art of the Public Apology: Reactions to Wood's Public Statement

Last Friday's public apology from Tiger Woods spurred a wide range of reactions from the audience. I'm always entertained by these types of press conferences and thought that the Woods public statement was about what I expected. The public apology is an art and like always it has it's connoisseurs and critics. In case you missed the 13 minute extravaganza in which Woods apologized for the pain his marital infidelities caused his family, friends and fans (in that order), don't worry, I'm going to cover my PR thoughts as well as a wide range of public opinions on the topic.

(Professional apology expert consensus’s on Woods statement: Too long. Too much stagecraft. But otherwise, not bad.)

However, for all the expertise out there, and despite the fascination and great public demand for it, the art of apology as practiced by the average American person of prominence, whether in politics, sports, religion or business, remains by most accounts pretty unsatisfying.

There was Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina: "I've spent the last five days of my life crying in Argentina" or Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, who offered a stinting apology for his firm's role in the financial collapse.

Experts in the field recorded other failed public apologies:

· A "Mark Stanford" is the sort of rambling, confessional apology that leaves you worse off than before.

· A "Mark McGwire" is the self-pitying apology that shows a lack of genuine contrition, and broadcasts your resentment at being caught

· A "John Edwards" is that apology which almost does not matter because you are for the foreseeable future beyond help.

· A "David Letterman" is one that works, but only if you happen to be a professional comedian with a goofy persona and late-night talk show.

Elin was not at the Woods press conference. I almost thought that Tiger’s statement was a, ‘please, please, Elin take me back’ press conference. I thought it was interesting how Woods kept stating that this issue was not Elin's fault, I kept thinking, when was it ever Elin's fault? Also, I thought it was interesting that he kept saying the issue was between him and Elin. We don't even know if there is a 'them' still. However, as Woods said, that is not our business.

In my opinion a good apology has to begin with a real connection between the apologizer and the offended person or audience. However, I'm not sure that most of the people who have risen to the top of their professions are narcissistic individuals and are just not capable of that.

I think the real issue with public apologies from prominent figures is that they don't sound trustworthy. It really hurts social trust when a public figure reveals to be other than who they claim, and then follow up with an apology that betrays them as having an immature personality, unfamiliar with the rigors of honest self-assessment.

Often times the person apologizing doesn't even state what they did wrong or how it's wrong, ask for forgiveness or ask how the offended how to make things right. I think there is not a lot different between a personal and public apology. In both you really should be specific, say what you did, ask the offended person not only for forgiveness, but ask them for what you need to do to make things right.

I like the public apology analysis an author at The New York Times took. He compared it to a cartoon features in The New Yorker last year: The woman stands over her shoulder-drooped husband. "I don't want your apology," she says. "I want you to be sorry."

Reactions to Tiger Woods' statement Friday Courtesy of The Associated Press:

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Woods' Family

_ "I said, 'I'm so proud of you. Never think you stand alone. Mom will always be there for you and I love you.'" — Kultida Woods.

_ "I watched it but I have nothing to say right now. I have no comments." — Father-in-law Thomas Nordegren, in Sweden.

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Olympians

_ "It's a bummer, his personal life. He's trying to deal with it and I don't think he knows how to totally express how he feels and I don't wanna say, come clean about everything, but explain what was going on. He's trying to pick his words very carefully and apologize. I respect that." — American gold medal snowboarder Shaun White.

_ "do we think this is coming from the heart or the paper! come on Tiger! give us some reality here .... thanks tiger. sweet hugs to your fam, can't wait to see you back out there!! Good Luck!! — American silver medal skier Julia Mancuso on Twitter.

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Golf Community

_ "There is anger in some corners, but mainly it is a sense of sadness. He's an American hero, and he's had his issues. At the end of the day, he's a human being. We all make mistakes. We all have made mistakes. And when we're lucky, we learn from those mistakes and we get to be better people." — PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.

_ "Today was a step in the right direction. ... We know what kind of champion he is on and off the golf course but this is a big battle he's fighting right now. He's going to show to the people he can be a champion off the course." — Golfer Mark O'Meara.

_ "It's not about words, it is about actions. It's all down to actions. I personally think if Tiger wants to be a family man, get out and play some golf and bring the whole family out with him. " — Golfer and TV analyst Nick Faldo.

_ "I thought it was an amazing conference. I thought Tiger was very humble. And, you know what? I think we all love him as a golfer and as a family man. And we want to see what's best for him." — Golfer Ben Crane.

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Marketing/Public Relations

_ "He came off very Tiger-like, in that it was a little too rehearsed and a little too scripted for my liking. The more scripted you are, the more risk you run of not being authentic or sincere." — Bill McGowan, image consultant for Clarity Media Group.

_ "It looked like it was staged. These things should have come from his heart, but he was reading out of a script. I could see he was tearing up, but I don't feel like he was being sincere." — Puntarika Susuntitapong, public relations executive in Bangkok.

_ "What I expected to see today was some humility. What I saw today was arrogance. What I saw was anger. ... It was basically an infomercial." — Public relations executive Rick Cerrone on CNN.

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Media

_ "One of the most remarkable public apologies ever by a public figure." — ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

_ "I think he was very genuine in his responses and his statement. I think we are entering a whole new era spiritually and emotionally for Tiger Woods." — Debert Cook, publisher of African American Golfer's Digest, on BBC News 24 television in London.

_ "Looked like a deer in the headlights — the kind of expression people have when they're playing with him on the golf course." — NBC Sports' Jimmy Roberts.

_ "I have never seen him appear so vulnerable. ... I was very impressed with what he said." — CBS' David Feherty.

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Business World

_ "I don't think anyone would want to rush out for someone who, by his own words, says he still needs treatment." — Rick Burton, former chief marketing officer of U.S. Olympic Committee.

_ "It was good to see Tiger address the public today, and we're supportive of his focus toward family and rebuilding his life. He remains one of the greatest athletes in history, and as a long-standing partner, we look forward to seeing Tiger back on the golf course when the time is right for him and his family." — Peter Moore, president of EA Sports.

_ "It was 95 percent about contrition and 5 percent about golf, because the latter will take care of itself. Winning, good behavior and time can be his friends for the long term." — Vada Manager, former public relations official for Nike.

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Alleged Mistress

"I would be open to a telephone apology from Tiger, but I really feel I deserve to look at him in person, face-to-face, in the eyes, because I did not deserve this. ... I am sorry for my part for any of their pain, but you can't help who you fall in love with." — Veronica Siwik-Daniels, who watched from Los Angeles.