In a case that seems more fitting for the middle of a mud-slinging presidential primary, Facebook just got caught using a hired PR firm to plant unflattering stories about Google.
USA Today broke the story, which quickly caught fire in the blogosphere and the media.
Is this really a PR no-no? What should Facebook have done instead?
And now that Facebook got caught, what should they do?
1) Is this a PR No-No?
Comparing yourself to competitors is standard practice in business, politics, sports, entertainment -- any field, really. Public relations is no different.
The "I'm a Mac" series of ads is a perfect example. Mac is directly comparing itself to PCs and openly mocks Microsoft as boring and hopelessly unhip.
Yet there's a difference between comparing yourself to competitors, or mocking them, and what Facebook did.
The biggest sin that Facebook committed was by being sneaky about it. They hid behind a PR firm that hid behind third parties -- and wouldn't tell those third parties who the client was.
That is sneaky. And stupid.
2) What should Facebook have done instead?
Be upfront about it. Don't hide behind a PR firm or try to put words in the mouths of others, to have them do your dirty work.
And don't make it dirty at all. When you say it, and you're not ashamed of saying it, it's clean and honest.
Facebook was trying to make a real point about privacy protections. Instead of having a PR firm slip people talking points on behalf of a secret client, Facebook should have owned the issue.
The press and public probably wouldn’t care if Facebook used the lame talking points that bashed Google's privacy policies. This is a legitimate story. There's no need to get all cloak-and-dagger.
But I wouldn't try to randomly bring up the issue. Facebook -- if it were smart -- could have done this by announcing new privacy protections. Strong protections. Ground-breaking stuff.
Reporters would naturally ask questions, and there'd be plenty of opportunities to point out flaws and problems in what Google, Microsoft or anybody else does, and to encourage them to do the same kinds of reforms.
That's clean. That's honest and upfront. And nobody would think Facebook was the least bit unethical for doing it.
3) How should Facebook fix the damage?
First of all, fire the PR firm. Not next month. Not next week. Today. Make a clean break.
Second, drop the issue of privacy. This stunt poisoned the waters. Trying to score points on this right now is impossible.
Third, reform how your media shop operates. Clearly, a company as big as Facebook has a media shop. The only reason they hired a PR firm to do this was for deniability. That's a mistake.
Ethics in PR really aren't that hard. You should be proud of whatever you're doing. If you're not proud of it, you shouldn't be doing it.