That would be the three major US auto manufacturers and their unbelievably lame attempts to convince the government to bail them out. This has truly been a PR failure of historic proportions. More on that in a moment.

First, in my previous post, I talked about the pros and cons of a public bailout of the formerly Big Three — now Dwindling Three — auto manufacturers. As a car lover and semi-populist, I was hoping for a way to save the US auto industry (and the millions of blue collar, main street jobs it represents) through government loans with strict conditions attached. These conditions would include firing current management and the boards of any US car company getting the loans, eliminating dividends, enforcing strict accountability and forcing these manufacturers to focus on well built fuel efficient cars that people want and need today (like those from Honda and to a lesser degree Toyota).

After the Capitol Hill performances of the CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler yesterday, pleading for a big government bail out, I now have come to the unfortunate conclusion that there is not a snowball’s chance in Hades that these companies are getting anything from the taxpayers. They have so misjudged the mood of the country and bungled the essential PR challenge of building support for their cause, that it’s now clear that they cannot be helped. No matter the rightness of their case.

And on top of that miserable PR performance, the big news yesterday was that Messrs. Wagoner, Nardelli and Mulally (the Dwindling Three CEOs) were so tone deaf that they traveled to Congress in their corporate jets!! Needless to say, the media had a field day with that revelation. I was watching Chris Matthews on ”Hardball” last evening (God does he love to rant…every now and then he actually says something of value) and he could not get enough of this PR fiasco. He quoted from a reporter covering the Congressional hearings who compared the three CEOs traveling to Washington, DC in their personal jets to a guy going to a soup kitchen in a “high hat and tuxedo!” White tie and tails would be more apt.

Matthews interviewed two Congressmen — one from New York and the other from Alabama — and neither had anything good to say about the US car companies. The fact is, it’s pretty hard these days to find anyone who is positively disposed to GM, Ford and Chrysler, once proud icons of American industrial strength and ingenuity. Why? Because they just don’t get it anymore. They seem to have totally lost touch with the reality of the economy and culture as it shakily stands today. 

And, they also don’t have a clue about how to use effective PR in creating real grass roots support of their legitimate issues and challenges, and proposals to restore their industry to something resembling health.

Here are some of Detroit’s most egregious recent PR mistakes:

• Wrong Message– The US auto companies tried to buttress their case principally by emphasizing the jobs that would be lost if they went bankrupt. However, that fell on deaf ears because so many other people in America are already either out of work themselves, or in danger of getting laid off. In addition, the three CEOs stubbornly claimed that bankruptcy was not a viable option for their companies. In light of the many blue chip companies that have already gone bankrupt in the US during the past couple of decades (United Airlines is a good example), not many people were buying that “we are unique” argument.
• Wrong Messengers – The three fat-cat CEOs from Detroit have not exactly engendered a lot of sympathy for the plight of their companies. Wagoner has been GM Chairman for a long time, and almost no one beyond his lemming-like board and his head of corporate communications believes he deserves to keep his job. But, Wagoner still managed to act arrogant while he was begging for a lifeline. Bob Nardelli, the new CEO of Chrysler, really looks the part of corporate fat-cat. He was the fellow who was shoved out of Home Depot for being the most imperious, incompetent CEO ever. (He basically tanked the company and then got paid several hundred million dollars for his performance). Alan Mulally, the former Boeing executive who took over the CEO spot at Ford in the past couple of years, was nominally a better spokesperson for the cause. But, not by that much. First rule of PR: Make sure you’ve got a good spokesperson for your announcement. These three amigos from Detroit just embarrassed themselves and the hundreds of thousands of hard working people they represented.
• No Grass Roots Support – In a year when Barack Obama showed the world the impact of effective community organizing (yes, Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani, community organizers really do make a difference), the US auto companies totally failed to build any grass roots support for getting government assistance when they needed it the most. This is pretty ironic when you realize that Wall Street and the the financial industry got bailed out, and there is no greedier bunch than that gang. The car companies really could make the case that they represented the hopes, dreams and needs of true main street America, but they just flubbed this opportunity big time. Again, a massive PR failure.
• No Humility – There was a gross lack of humility in the messages, demeanor and proposals of the Detroit CEOs and their apparatchiks. These guys just weren’t willing to take real responsibility for the appalling state of their companies (”it was all the economy, Congressman”). Absent that honest accountability, they did nothing to elicit empathy or sympathy, and hence they got none in return.  Then of course there were those three corporate jets idling at National Airport, ready to take the failed CEOs back to Detroit. That didn’t exactly scream humility and “we really are changing our ways, America!”

Both Harvard and the Public Relations Society of America should use the US auto manufacturers’ PR debacle to create case studies of what NOT TO DO in the future. This is a stunning example of botched public relations that deserves to live forever in PR infamy.

 

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