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Monday, October 22, 2007
Ignored crisis is a missed opportunity
Puppygate. Who hasn’t heard of the Ellen DeGeneris breakdown on live TV over the “recall” of a puppy adopted from an animal rescue organization? But who has heard from the rescue group? Talk about your missed opportunity!Not only did the rescue group handle the situation badly in the first place, they missed a chance to go on national TV, on one of the highest-rated daytime shows, and explain how carefully they select adoptive homes for the animals.
Those of us with rescue dogs (I have three!) know the process and how much time and effort goes into matching foster dogs with forever families. It’s no less stringent than adopting a child. And that’s how most of the people running these rescue groups feel about their animals.
By not taking advantage of this opportunity, it gave every rescue group in the country a black eye. Has anyone seen a local piece in the news about this? Where some bright organization shined a positive light on their work?
Comments:
Pamela, I thought the same thing when the news hit.
What an ideal opportunity this would have been for such agencies to offer their take on the matter--while getting thousands of dollars in free publicity in the bargain.
Missed opportunities are as big a mistake as a lack of damage control policies in place before crisis hits.
You are so right, Pamela.
Think of the thousands of dollars worth of free, positive publicity animal adoption agencies have missed out on by not offering themselves up as experts to local and national media.
It's a two-fold mistake: missing out on the free publicity and losing the chance to attract new adoptive puppy parents.
Even not for profit organizations need sound PR plans in place.