Crisis Communications: Oscar Pistorius

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is currently the only suspect in the alleged “premeditated murder” of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Thursday, February 14.

According to reports shared by CNN, Pistorius claims that he was not wearing his prosthetic legs when he heard sounds in his bathroom. Robyn Curnow et al. write, “Feeling vulnerable in the pitch dark and too scared to turn on the lights, the track star pulled his 9mm pistol from beneath his bed, moved toward the bathroom and fired into the door.”

It wasn’t until after he shot through the door three times that Pistorius called to his girlfriend to call the police, only to realize that she wasn’t in bed. Upon entering the bathroom, he found her bleeding from gunshot wounds. In his statement to the police, he said, “I tried to render the assistance to Reeva that I could, but she died in my arms…I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva.”

While both sides agree that Pistorius did shoot Steenkamp, the issue rests in whether or not the act was done intentionally (after a heated argument as the prosecution suggests) or by accident (as Pistorius claims).

Oscar Pistorius was released on bail on February 22. In a report shared by USA Today, Magistrate Desmond Nair is quoted as saying, “Pistorius is not a flight risk and does not show ‘a propensity for violence’ or constitute a risk to the community.” In his closing statements, the magistrate highlighted Pistorius’ willingness to cooperate with the legal proceedings and stated that was a factor in his decision. Pistorius’ court date is set for June 4, 2013, giving prosecutors and investigators three months to prepare for Pistorius’ next appearance in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.

Oscar Pistorius’ Reputation & Sponsorships

Despite all of the negative publicity, Pistorius is best known for this motivational image of him running with Ellie Challis, a five-year-old who lost her hands and lower legs at 16 months after contracting meningitis.

This image, taken before Pistorius competed in the 2012 London Olympics, helped increase awareness of the hardships families face in obtaining prosthetic limbs—highlighting young children and families that could not afford to purchase limb replacements annually and the challenges they face with insurance companies.

Mike Hendrick, founder of the Mineseeker Foundation where Pistorius is an ambassador, recently supported the athlete in an interview with civilsociety.co.uk. Hendrick told the online media outlet that, “I’ve known Oscar since he was 18 and all our experiences with him have been very uplifting and good…Oscar Pistorius is a man of ‘deep humility and respect for life.’”

On February 20th, The Guardian (UK) reported that “Oscar Pistorius was estimated to receive endorsements worth more than $2M a year” and that, although sponsors initially stood by the athlete, many companies were announcing that they were dropping Oscar Pistorius.

According to the Bulldog Reporter, the eyewear maker, Oakley emailed a statement to Pistorius’ management team saying, “In light of the recent allegations, Oakley is suspending its contract with Oscar Pistorius, effective immediately.”

KeJuan Wilkins, a spokesman of Nike Inc. (which was highlighted as having made Pistorius’ carbon-fiber blades during the Olympics) shared that the company has “no plans to use him in future ad campaigns” and the Associated Press points out that a 2007 Nike Internet ad showing Pistorius starting to sprint in his blades with the caption: “I am the bullet in the chamber” has already been pulled (featured below).

As the details of Reeva Steenkamp’s shooting continue to be investigated, Pistorius’ agent canceled all of his scheduled races and his team has posted media statements on Oscar Pistorius’ official website. Some suggest that the sponsors are making an unfair example of Pistorius, especially in the case of Nike, since the company previously stood by Lance Armstrong, who admitted to doping earlier this year; Tiger Woods, who admitted to numerous affairs and sex addiction; and Michael Vick, who went to jail for illegal dog-fighting.

Although he may be painted as a murderer in the media (as exemplified by this week’s cover of TIME magazine), Pistorius still has supporters online. An article in CNN sited posts from users on Twitter who stated they believed Pistorius’ story after reading the affidavit and a simple search for “Oscar Pistorius” produces multiple opinions from around the world.

Many are weighing in on the athlete’s role in Steenkamp’s death, but Oscar Pistorius has remained quiet on his social media accounts. His Twitter @OscarPistorius hasn’t been updated since February 13, the night before Reeva Steenkamp’s death.

What would you suggest for Oscar Pistorius’ public relations team?

Yasheaka Oakley

Yasheaka Oakley is an independent consultant specializing in public relations, social media, and online marketing via her website, YOakleyPR.com. You can keep up with her on social media by following on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to her e-newsletter by clicking here.

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Celebrity PR Highlight: Chris Brown & Rihanna

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

We all remember the February 2009 felony assault story of Chris Brown and Rihanna.

The accusations of domestic abuse between the couple, and the photos of a battered Rihanna generated a massive amount of criticism and induced outrage in celebrities, fans, and the media—placing the pair under international scrutin.

Now that the two have decided to make amends and resume an intimate relationship, many fans have taken to social media to share their opinion of the couple, but according to the singers’ latest duet, “it ain’t nobody’s business.”

On August 19, 2012, Rihanna appeared on Oprah’s Next Chapter and revealed that, despite the anger and embarrassment of being assaulted by her then-boyfriend Chris Brown, she felt protective of him throughout his arrest and the period of ridicule that followed.

At the time of the interview, rumors were already circling that Rihanna and Chris Brown’s relationship had become intimate even though he was in a relationship with Karrueche Tran, an American model who had been dating the rapper since 2010.

Rihanna’s interview with Oprah caused a stir with her admission that the two had been working on rebuilding trust and redeveloping their friendship. The Pop singer admitted that when she sees Chris Brown, “it’s awkward” and that it was difficult to suppress her feelings of love for him because he was “the love of her life.”

According to ABC News, Chris Brown mentioned that “he and Rihanna were working on their friendship” during a November interview with Power 106 radio host Big Boy. Brown went on to say that, “As far as our personal life, I think people just got to give it a chance—or not even give it a chance, but shut the hell up.”

Now, with the release of Rihanna’s new album Unapologetic and the song “Nobody’s Business” featuring Chris Brown, they have taken their renewed relationship out of the dark realm of rumor and gossip by thrusting it directly in everyone’s faces. Photos of the pair in public places (and gossip about the things they do while there) are quickly accompanied by photos on the singers’ Twitter and Instagram accounts that confirm what everyone thought—they are back together!

The photo featured in this blog article was posted to Rihanna’s badgalriri Instagram account on November 29, 2012 with the caption, “@fuckyopictures i dont wanna leave!!! Killed it tonight baby!!!”

The photo, which mentions Chris Brown’s Instagram user name and features Rihanna straddling what appears to be Chris Brown’s lap, sparked more than 32,000 comments and 335,000 ♥s on Instagram. It was also retweeted by @Rihanna Twitter followers more than 17,300 times, which only increased the original 27 million impressions.

The duo may be telling the world that “it ain’t nobody’s business,” but they sure do seem to be sharing plenty of public displays of affection (PDA) in both the physical and digital realm. Intimate photos of the two in bed or wrapped around each other have been shared by both Rihanna and Chris Brown throughout December, and the fact that they spent Christmas cuddled up at a Lakers game only confirms that they are back together. But what of Karrueche, the young model who put in two years of work with a damaged Chris Brown despite his pleading guilty to assault and battery?

Many speculate that Chris Brown is not just in a relationship with Rihanna, but that he is also involved with Karrueche, despite previously stating that they broke up so “she wouldn’t be hurt by his relationship with Rihanna.”

Over the holidays, Karrueche took to Twitter, sharing a very suggestive photo of her in sexy lingerie with the message, “Merry Christmas baby.” Many question whether or not Tran is attempting to entice Chris Brown back to her side, or talking to someone else entirely.

Although this crazy love triangle is on the radar of every entertainment news reporter and gossip blog, Tran seems to be talked about very sparingly. The only news and gossip sites that are discussing Tran/Brown are sites like Hollywood Life and the grocery store tabloids. Aside from the occasional mention, it seems as though she is out of the picture entirely and that Chris Brown and Rihanna’s star-crossed love affair is back on.

Do you think the intensity of their love from 2009 will return, or did assault and battery stomp out that dangerous flame? Leave a comment below sharing your view.

Yasheaka Oakley

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What do PR Pros Value About Public Relations?

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

I found both Sean McCleneghan‘s article on public relations skill sets and Shannon Bowen‘s article on how public relations practitioners attempt to appeal to the dominant coalition within an organization to be very informative in regards to the expectations and hardships that PR professionals experience as they strive to become and remain a part of an organization’s top management team.

McCleneghan’s survey focused on the different skill sets that public relations executives place an emphasis on versus their counselor counterparts. While PR executives found “writing competency” and “critical thinking” to be more important skill sets, counselors ranked “judgment and decision-making skills” higher than writing competency. I believe that part of this discrepancy stems from the difference in power one wields as a PR executive versus a PR counselor.

When one is an executive, her duties and authority is limited by that allotted by the dominant coalition a.k.a. top management. As Bowen’s 2009 study of public relations professionals shows, many PR practitioners complain about these limitations to their ability to practice proper public relations models. PR executives may rely more on their ability to think write effectively due to the fact that they are limited to this function within their organization.

According to Bowen, survey participants expressed relief when their organization was presented with a crisis because “it was what I had been waiting for all this time to get in there and prove what I could do.” Another respondent stated that he “had been waiting for years” to finally get a chance to “acquire the attention and reliance of the CEO and dominant coalition.”

Interestingly enough, Bowen’s respondents placed little faith in long-term credibility building activities through “persistence and maintaining a history of correct analyses over time.” Many were displeased by the lack of progression overtime and some even complained that “it takes ages, really years and years, to earn their [the dominant coalition’s] trust.” Part of the issue was that PR professional have been burned along this route. The same respondent went on to state that “you think you have it, and then you are back out and have to try again, to keep trying” and that there didn’t seem to be any real trust being given to public relations as an organization function.

I recently made my public relations consulting services available and, from what I’ve experienced, I would have to agree with McCleneghan’s findings that counselors place more importance on their ability to make decisions than PR executives. As an independent consultant, small business owners often look to you as the authority on all things public relations. Without the ability to consistently make sound decisions, clients will lose faith in your ability to produce results and are more likely to stop doing business with you—which may be the end of your company.

I would be very interested in hearing the opinions of other experienced practitioners on this matter. Please feel free to share your experiences by leaving a comment below.

What skill sets would you rank the highest for PR professionals?

Yasheaka Oakley

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Crisis Communications: The David Petraeus Scandal

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

General David Petraeus, who served in the Army for 37 years, resigned from his position as Director of the CIA on Thursday, November 8, 2012 due to an extramarital affair he admits to having with his biographer Paula Broadwell.

The story surfaced due to Petraeus family friend, Jill Kelley, who filed a complaint with the Federal Bureau of Investigations after receiving harassing and/or threatening emails from an anonymous email account. The emails were traced back to Paula Broadwell, a military activist who wrote the NY Times Bestseller All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.

This video, taken from The Huffington Post‘s website, suggests that the investigation has revealed that Petraeus and Broadwell used a messaging system favored by the terrorist group, Al Qaeda to avoid detection during their affair.

Many question whether or not Petraeus compromised his role in the intelligence community and ask why, if the FBI has been investigating the affair since June 2012, the investigation was not reported to the White House until November 7, 2012—after the November 6 Presidential Election.

Some media outlets are speculating that the information was withheld from top government officials until after the election in an effort to keep the nation focused on issues and reduce political interference. Others suggest that Gen. Petraeus has placed the White House in a compromising position regarding potential foreign affairs and confidential information leaks.

According to Matthew Miller, former Director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Justice, the FBI handled the David Petraeus investigation correctly.

Miller states that the, “FBI had not uncovered any active threat to national security…had the investigation shown the relationship posed an active threat to national security—either because of the disclosure of classified information, blackmail, or some other matter—the attorney general and the FBI undoubtedly would have notified the president immediately.”

With the story gaining national and international attention, what would you suggest for the CIA in regards to handling this matter and promoting its mission of being the “agency responsible for providing national security intelligence?”

Yasheaka Oakley

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Election 2012: Relating to the Issues

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

As Election Day (Nov. 6) quickly approaches, the internet is abuzz with infographics and articles suggesting which candidate is leading in the polls, who won what debate, and what voters are saying on social media platforms.

While I admit that Obama’s “fewer horses and bayonets” comment elicited a snort, and that I would be a liar if I said I didn’t enjoy the Big Bird memes, I feel like the issues have taken something of a back seat of late.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good social media buzz as much as the next PR nerd, but I also believe that it’s important for voters to take a step back and assess the major issues and how they relate to them.

Planning Pod recently released an infographic discussing the 2012 election issues and the opinions of small business owners. It suggests that 97% of small business owners vote in national contests and that 40% of small business owners believe health care is a major issue in the 2012 election.

GooglePolitics released the following infographic that does a great job of breaking down some of the major issues and presenting them in a manner that makes them easy to understand.

Personally, I found some of the new voting legislation to be a bit confusing and referred to one of my politically-charged lawyer friends for clarification. I didn’t want something as silly as an I.D. or needing to renew my voter’s registration card to come between the polls and my vote.

I hate to hear young adults say, “I’m just voting for X because X.” That’s not a REAL reason! If you can’t support your reason for voting for your candidate with a sound reason, then perhaps you shouldn’t be participating in election 2012 at all!

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I really, really want you to take a moment to at least glance at the issues and some of the information that’s available before you submit your vote on November 6. It’s all good and well to remain loyal to your political party, but one should definitely take the time to formulate an informed opinion before voting and signing on for four years of this or that.

Leave a comment in my comment box expressing the issue you relate to the most. Please don’t just leave an #Obama2012 or . . . well, whatever catchy phrase Mitt Romney’s team is rolling with for election 2012 on Twitter.

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Yasheaka Oakley

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The Benefits of Corporate Relationship-Building & Legitimacy

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

According to William Benott and Augustine Pang, a company’s image is “subjective because it arises from information held by people about that company.”

With this in mind, one’s ideas about a company and its relationships with external audiences can be positively or negatively affected by the perceptions people form.

According to Benott, a firm’s reputation can influence “how closely the government regulates its actions…loans and credit offerings, and whether a supplier is willing to wait for payment.” This can be especially true for nonprofit organizations.

When one’s entire budget is dependent on the perception of its community members and program performance, image can have a direct affect on the organization’s ability to survive.

It is important for nonprofits, especially those small in number and resource, to understand the role legitimacy plays in building their reputations. In appeals to the ideas and beliefs of potential donors and volunteers, a nonprofit asks people to adapt to its “ideas and mission by convincing them that the nonprofit helps make the community a better place to live.”

One way of doing this is building legitimacy by aligning oneself with a larger, more-established business that is respected within the community and willing to share resources.

By establishing these relationships, a nonprofit organization can build its corporate reputation and attract potential investors, customers, employees, and volunteers. According to Arild Wæraas, legitimacy and the trust of community members will allow any organization to “continue to exist or exercise dominance in their environment.” Since Max Weber’s definition of legitimacy “lies in the citizen’s perception,” it is important for the organization to promote a favorable image that community members will continue to support through donations and volunteer activities.

Wæraas’ emphasis on legitimacy is supported by Dr. Nell Huang-Horowitz’s claim that “legitimacy is essential for the survival” and that corporate reputation-building activities are important tools for gaining trust. She suggests that although smaller organizations understand the value of corporate reputation, they don’t undertake reputation-building strategies. It is important for public relations professionals operating in smaller environments to guide organizations towards reputation-building activities, strategic alliances, and a positive image for the company.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Crisis Communications: Kelly Cutrone v Women in PR

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

On September 20-23, 2012, Women in PR hosted it’s 2nd Annual Summit & Retreat in Miami, FL. Kelly Cutrone of Peoples Revolution was scheduled to appear as keynote speaker for the conference, but that did not happen due to breach of contract allegations.

According to their Eventbrite page, event registration was about $395.00 for the weekend affair, but you may notice that there was a separate $135 fee for a Closing Brunch featuring Kelly Cutrone of People’s Revolution, a public relations firm with offices in NY, LA and Europe. Many of you may recognize Cutrone from America’s Next Top Model with Tyra Banks, or for her work in the public relations and fashion industries.

According to her Twitter feed @peoplesrev, up until September 19, 2012, Cutrone fully expected to participate in the Women in PR summit (#WIPRSummit) in Miami and even encouraged her followers to tweet her if they were expecting to come.

Due to an alleged breach of contract for nonpayment, Kelly Cutrone felt obligated to release the following video via her Facebook page on Thursday, Sept. 20. In the video, Cutrone criticizes Women in PR for being “America’s most fraudulent PR organization.”

Kelly Cutrone felt so strongly on the matter that she also shared images of her team’s correspondence with Women in PR on her Facebook page, copies of the speakers agreement, a letter from her lawyers demanding payment of the agreed upon speakers fee, and a warning that if WIPR did not act as they had agreed, a lawsuit may be in their future. You can see Cutrone’s shares by clicking here.

A back-and-forth conversation has been going on between Kelly Cutrone, Women in PR, summit attendees, and WIPR Twitter followers. Apparently, WIPR failed to notify its attendees of the cancellation and numerous attendees were confused and wondering whether there would be refunds for the special brunch tickets.

Women in PR tweeted a comment directly to @YOakleyPR about the controversy between their brand and Kelly Cutrone, saying, “Remember there is always two sides of a story. How professional is to put ur business on SM as a professional? Nobody missed her!“ OfficialKells, a Twitter user, had the following to say on the matter, “@womeninPR1 seriously blocked me for supporting @peoplesrev -__- #fail Truth hurts, I guess. lol.”

According to SlideShare, Women in PR’s co-founder, Anje Collins, posted a sponsorship presentation on March 20,2012 that advertised “2nd Annual Women In PR Summit & Retreat 2012 Miami featuring Keynote Speaker Kelly Cutrone founder of Peoples Revolution” in the information section. The email chain from Collins (as shown on Cutrone’s FB page) says that there was no agreement and they do not intend to pay the speakers fee — but all of the advertising materials imply otherwise.

You would also have to have a keen eye to note that WIPR has already removed any reference of Kelly Cutrone from their website. While advertising the conference, a copy of the flyer featured in this post was prominently displayed on their website along with a blog post announcing “Peoples Revolution Founder, Kelly Cutrone Slated as Keynote Speaker.”

Unfortunately for them, the internet lives on forever, be it in external blog posts, dead links or images hosted on third party sites—the information is still out there and available.

UPDATE: Although I intended to write a follow up piece discussing Women in PR’s response to these accusations, but they never published an official response via their blog (as rumored when this issue initially came to light). As far as I can tell, there have been no mentions of the Kelly Cutrone fraud accusations against Women in PR on their Facebook, Twitter or WordPress blog, as of December 2012, and they fully intend to continue coordinating the Women in PR Summit for Houston 2013.

Leave a comment sharing your suggestions on how Women in PR could handle this crisis communications issue.

Image via Caltweet

Yasheaka Oakley

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Public Relations: The Ethics Issue

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

How can public relations professionals argue the nobility of PR activities when we cannot deny that the field was birthed out of negative activities like propaganda campaigns, spin doctoring, misrepresenting the truth, and manipulating the media?

Dr. Shannon Bowen suggests that professionals promote the legitimacy of public relations activities by reminding publics and stakeholders that when a public relations function is enacted with noble intent, it can promote “a free flow of dialogue, information and communication between various groups, including publics and organizations.”

Professional associations, like the PRSA, have adopted codes of ethics as a means of heightening the field’s legitimacy. Members are encouraged incorporate and promote their use of these standards and group effort this promotes the idea of uniform control and ethical practice.

Although a code of ethics is one way to address the moral issues associated with public relations, Bowen’s article shares that “practitioners often state that codes of ethics are too vague to be useful in their own careers or that they do not give enough specific guidance to be anything other than rudimentary.”

In my professional career, I have found the following arguments from Lance Porter and Shannon Bowen to be consistent with the industry:

Acknowledge that public relations professionals are paid to advocate ideas and to influence behavior: Although PR pros strive to provide positive brand and strategic management strategies, the client is the final word. Just like any other job, we have a boss (or numerous bosses!) who says “yes” or “no” and have to live with it.
Public relations professionals serve best as ethical consciences for organizations: Other management functions like management, finance and operations don’t usually take the time to consider how their actions will be perceived by publics outside the organization. The average PR pro strives to wear legal, brand management, and communications hats at the same time.

I have found it best to operate by what I like to call “sunshine ethics” (an idea similar to that of the Sunshine Law). If I wouldn’t make it available for public record and tell our donors about it, then we probably shouldn’t be doing it!

Where do you draw the line as a professional? Leave a comment sharing how you define ethical public relations practice and what issues you have encountered in your career.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Including a Klout Score on Your Resume

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

Everyone knows how important your resume is to the job search and application process, but as the influence of social media grows in the corporate realm, how will it effect the way young professionals prepare their resumes during this competitive market?

According to AdWeek, applicants have been including Klout scores on their resumes since 2011. Should you include your Klout score on your resume or is it too blatant an attempt to impress hiring managers?

Let’s take a moment to break down what Klout is and how it benefits you as a social media influencer, because it’s another one of those “new platforms” that you may not have even heard of yet (and if you’re nodding your head while reading this, you’re going to appreciate the next paragraph).

Klout is a free service that measures your online influence on a scale of 1 to 100 using an algorithm that assesses your ability to drive action in social networks. This is a new concept simply because it gives a user’s social media influence a quantified value and gives companies the opportunity to engage thought leaders with special brand perks.

Once you activate it though, you run the risk of an algorithm either establishing your reputation as an online influencer or diminishing it to nothing with an impressively low score.

Truth of the matter is: Klout is still so new that no one knows how much faith they want to put in it’s ability to accurately access a user’s online influence over other users.

According to blogger Garth Knutson, “Klout is misunderstood. Many hate it, and you wouldn’t want to find your resume in the hands of one of its biggest detractors.” So if you decide to include your Klout score on your resume and your hiring manager is a non-believer? There goes that application.

But other professionals, like David Armano of Edelman Digital, support including your social graph on your resume if you can back it up. Armano says:

Organizations do occasionally hire individuals who have cultivated significant social graphs and the expectation is that they will use their skills and the “influence” associated by their online (and offline) reputations for the job.

This belief makes sense. It’s common to hear professionals suggest that young professionals include links to their professional Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account on their resume if applying for a new media position. If that’s the role you intend to play within the company, it may benefit you if the hiring managers are impressed by how many likes, followers, or connections you have.

The problem here? According to Klout, “The average Klout Score is actually 20, not 50.” So unless your score is “above average,” you may actually be embarrassing yourself by putting your Klout score on your resume.

Would you include your Klout score?

Leave a comment stating what your current Klout score is and whether or not you would or have included it on your resume. I’d love to hear your opinion on the matter.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Burger King’s New Whopper Bars

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

Has instant gratification ruined our society?

Within the last year, there have been changes in the fast food industry that make me wonder just how much “service” consumers expect from chain restaurants.

Consider your local Burger King. You enter the lobby and expect to be served a burger, fries and a Coke . . . but what about a beer?

In the summer of 2011, Burger King opened three “Whopper Bar” locations that give customers the option of ordering an “ice cold beer” (as stated in their menu). Half a year later, you can find Whopper Bars in New York, Memphis, Orlando, Miami, Las Vegas, and Kansas City.

On the 16th of January, Burger King announced that they would start testing a home deliver service in the major Washington, DC area so that they could compete with the pizza industry. With special thermal packaging, a #6 could be at your door in about 30 minutes.

Some activists argue fast food chains are making unhealthy eating options too accessible to consumers, especially considering the obesity and diabetes rates here in America. They also argue that offering alcoholic beverages could increase the rate of alcohol-related incidents like teen D.U.I.s or deaths.

I don’t feel that one can lay blame on fast food chains. Pizzerias have traditionally operated in both the alcohol and food-delivery industries for years without a noted impact on alcohol-related incident rates. If you desired to order some Burger King online and alcohol isn’t available for delivery or underage consumption, can you really complain? Offering Burger King for home-delivery will surely make fast, high-calorie options more available, but let’s be honest, if I wanted it, I have no obstacles to getting it.

This is the era of information technology with instantaneous access to everything and anything. We’re too spoiled now to accept less. Burger King realizes this and is trying on new hats to maintain their dominance in a country stressed by a recession. Should we be criticizing them for attempting to survive rather than accepting the fact that we can no longer stay set in our traditional ways?

Yasheaka Oakley

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Celebrity PR Highlight: Bruno Mars

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Yasheaka Oakley

I feel like I can represent the opinion of the female population when I say that Bruno Mars is a “dream guy.” This category is reserved for male celebrities that speaks to the female desire to be wanted, appreciated and beautiful. In my opinion, the only other male celebrities that fell into this category (within the last 10 years) were Trey Songz, Usher, and Chris Brown (until he had that domestic violence incident against former-girlfriend Rihanna).

Bruno Mars, pop singer of songs like “Grenade” and “Just the Way You Are,” is being tried for a felony cocaine possession charge and is due before a Las Vegas judge on February 4, 2011.

Reports claim that Bruno Mars, whose real name is Peter Hernandez, will make a plea bargain to avoid felony charges. An article released by the Associated Press states that if he “pays a $2,000 fine, performs 200 hours of community service, completes drug counseling and stays out of trouble for a year, no conviction will remain on his record.”

Now, this isn’t as bad as the Brown/Rihanna incident, but I must say that my opinion of Mars as an individual has somewhat fallen. My opinion of him as a singer? Untouched. I think that his songs have a fun, romantic, soul-searching tone that truly reaches his target audience: women.

When I listen to songs like “Grenade,” I have to admit that, although I would never wish my significant other to take a bullet to the brain to save my life, the severity and depth of the offer has a romantic fantasy novel appeal to it. To think that he would even offer makes the female heart pitter-patter and a girl go, “Awwww.”

To hear that Bruno Mars is a cocaine user is surely a disappointment, but I don’t think that it will have a negative affect on his career when it comes to his fan-base or the seven Grammy Awards he was recently nominated for. Despite his weakness to the white powder, it may actually be good for his fans to think of him as a “human” and not keep him on a pedestal as “a dream guy.”

Bruno, please clean yourself up. I would hate for you to become the next “Lindsay Lohan” embarrassment to music. Please don’t become a junkie. I love your music, but if that’s the only way you can produce it, maybe you should consider another field? I’d hate to think that all the beautiful words are results only of your brain deteriorating from cocaine inhalation.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Sarah Palin Supporting the N-word?!

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Yasheaka Oakley

I came across this article in the Huffington Post via their Twitter account and simply had to retweet and comment on it myself.

I was horrified by the tweet’s message, “Sarah Palin defends Dr. Laura via Twitter: ‘don’t retreat…reload!’”

At the time, I had not heard about the Laura Schlessinger controversy but after reading this article, I must say that there are a few things that I would like to point out about this issue.

1) Laura Schlessinger is absolutely right to declare that she will be ending her program once her contract expires this year. If the world learned anything from the Don Imus and the “nappy headed hoes” controversy of April 2007, it is that racial slurs on public radio are not allowed and will result in dismissal and public ridicule.

2) Sarah Palin not gaining the vice presidency had to have been one of the best things to happen in 2008.

3) On the matter of Dr. Laura’s 1st Amendment rights, and Palin’s comment “1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence!” Sorry to say, but it is within the law to censor a voice on the radio!

If you know anything about the law, you would know that it was for situations like this that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was founded. Dr. Schlessinger is trying to protect her reputation and ensure that she will have some hope of working in the communication industry in the future.

3b) “The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. The FCC’s jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions.”

I took the liberty of replying to to Sarah Palin’s Twitter account @SarahPalinUSA telling her that “@SarahPalinUSA “Don’t retreat…reload! ” I’m AfAm, I don’t use the N-word, encouraging its use is ignorant. Plz stop.” I

don’t know if she’ll actually get around to reading it or even pay my words any attention, but at the very least, someone is telling her that this is unfavorable. I’m African American and I don’t use the N-word. I would hate to promote something so ignorant and racially demoralizing as that term.

Sadly, Palin, who seems to have gathered quite the following, is a voice that people follow and imitate. I hope that this is rectified very soon and that Palin is taken out of the public eye. She is not the type of role model that I want the young women of the next generation to listen to.

Rose, Adam J., “Sarah Palin Supports Dr. Laura via Twitter: ‘don’t retreat…reload!’” Huffington Post. 18 Aug 2010.
Faber, Judy. “CBS Fires Don Imus Over Racial Slur.” CBS News. 12 April 2007.

Yasheaka Oakley

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