Qantas wins at the 2011 Top PR disasters awards

[oz_mark]

For the second consecutive year, Qantas has topped the list of the annual PR Disasters Awards conducted by PR watchdog and blogsite PRdisasters.com. And for the first time in the awards’ history, the airline had three embarrassing PR glitches feature in the year’s top ten most talked about PR nightmares. Here are Australia’s Top 10 PR Disasters for 2011 (biggest disaster first):

1. Qantas grounding – business decision that inconvenienced and angered a nation
2. Qantas luxury Tweet – poorly conceived Twitter promo which drew ire not idolising
3. Brendan Fevola – termination of troubled star’s contract with Brisbane Lions
4. Tony Abbott – mute, shaking-head TV interview freeze
5. Qantas ‘golliwogs’ – social media rugby promo, which catalysed a racial brouhaha
6. Ricky Nixon – PR fallout from unseemly association with the St Kilda teen
7. Larissa Behrendt – coughy comments against Bess Price published on Twitter
8. Kyle Sandilands – personal vendetta against a journo forced a humiliating apology
9. Australian Defence Force – Cadet Skype-cam sex scandal
10. Gasp Retail – bad customer service flowed from in-store to email; a PR 101 fail!

Australia’s 2011 PR Disasters Awards announced | PR Disasters

 

[mannej]

So what did they win it for last year?

 

[oz_mark]

So what did they win it for last year?

2010 was ....

1. Qantas – A380 fleet consecutive engine issues and passenger delays
2. Commonwealth Bank – premium interest rate hikes
3. Labor Party – corporate backlash against the proposed ‘super tax’
4. Melbourne Storm – salary cap scandal
5. Stephanie Rice – homophobic comments posted via Twitter
6. Canberra Raiders – Joel Monaghan ‘dog sex’ photo
7. Virgin Blue – reservations and check-in system crash
8. Matthew Newton – after alleged assault of then partner Rachel Taylor in Italy
9. David Jones – CEO sexual assault scandal
10. Lara Bingle - media relations following split with Michael Clark

 

[mannej]

Bit harsh the 380 issues. I thought Joyce handled the issues very well.

 

[Moody]

Bit harsh the 380 issues. I thought Joyce handled the issues very well.

True - but the ugly head of the "outsourced maintenance" monster loomed large in people's minds. So whilst the pilots enhanced Qantas' reputation and Joyce took the best option and grounded the A380, they were undone by the initial shonky quality control.

But those must seem like the golden days compared to this year. Is there such a thing as a hat-trick of own goals, because 3 out of the top 5 PR disasters is quite frankly a disaster.

 

[serfty]

Personally that list is quite subjective and I give it no real credence whatsoever.

Those who consider the Radike Samo issue a "PR disaster" need to get a life IMHO.

 

[oz_mark]

Personally that list is quite subjective and I give it no real credence whatsoever.

Those who consider the Radike Samo issue a "PR disaster" need to get a life IMHO.

It did, however, come with substantial negative media coverage, which was one of the requirements for being on the list.

 

[serfty]

It did, however, come with substantial negative media coverage, which was one of the requirements for being on the list.

Fair enough - if that's the criteria then it just bears out what I consider of most [-]thought police[/-] media.:-|

 

[JohnK]

Interesting that Qantas has 3 of the tope 5.

But I do agree on top choice. Not that difficult really....