Can Komen's Reputation Be Saved?

Short answer is: I hope so, but I doubt it.

Transparency alert:  I’m a breast cancer survivor, my oncologist is a medical advisor  for Komen and one of my best friends is the medical director for a Planned Parenthood  office . To say that I’m conflicted is an understatement.  I am reacting to the news of Komen’s de-funding of Planned Parenthood the way most of us react to the death of a friend – with denial, disbelief, anger and grief

I saw the first negative tweet sometime Tuesday night and went into total  denial. They must have it wrong, I thought. Why would anyone be saying such horrible things about Komen. They’re the good guys, T hey fund the research that may have saved my life.  Then it was on the news. Yes in fact they HAD pulled funding for breast screenings at Planned Parenthood. 

Disbelief came next:  What are they thinking? Why would they do that, there must be some explanation. Alas, there was not. Or at least not one that didn’t scream POLITICS thru every sentence. Then I felt anger. Raw, seeing red, expletives undeleted fury.  I was angry at them for the decision, sure. But I was angry for many more reasons.

Angry for tarnishing a brand I’ve endorsed over and over again. But that was all about me, so then I got angry at them for denying services to the predominantly young, low income women that Planned Parent hood serves. I got angrier when my friend emailed me that her Planned Parenthood office had recently had detected suspicious lumps in five women who, as it turned out, had breast cancer. Cancer that would have gone undetected were it not for that Planned Parenthood visit. 

The I got even angrier because I emailed, commented, tweeted to Komen and no one was listening. I know the PR people at Komen, and know them to be smart and good at their jobs. They even measure their results based on outcomes for gods sakes!   I can only imagine the hell on earth that their offices must be like right now. A hell that they certainly didn’t cause, and that they certainly can’t fix. A hell made worse by people far above their pay grade making stupid decisions to behave like ostriches in this crisis. Attempting to control the criticism by cutting off the dialog. Putting out stilted videos that do nothing to address the concerns and everything to belittle their critics. (as if THAT is going to make critics feel better and/or go away.

Then I started reading everyone elses comments on the various blogs and Facebook pages and I got even angrier at the idealogs on both sides that have turned a fundamental issue of women’s health into a platform for their diatribes.

Finally I finally got sad, and mourned my loss.

I had loss a source of hope. When I was facing a choice of treatments for Stage 2 Invasive ductal carcinoma, my doctor assured me that if I chose chemotherapy and radiation it would keep cancer at bay for at least five years and “by that time we will have found a cure” --  and the one orgnazation that I truly believed might fund that cure was Komen. I believed that because my oncologist was advising Komen and if anything was going to beat cancer it was a team that included Dana Farber and Komen. It’s been 8 years and they haven’t found a cure, but they’ve made a lot of progress. Now, thousands of loyal donors are pledging to give elsewhere.  As much as I may have differences with their belief, I now have to hope that the pro-life contingent makes up the difference, which is, of course, what Komen is also hoping. 

I am also mourning the loss that one feels when a trust is broken.  Every brand is its core is a promise. Southwest Airlines promises me the freedom to fly. FedEx promises me that my packages wll get their overnight. Komen promised me that they would find a cure. In reality, we all know that brands can fail.  Southwest can be more expensive. FedEx can lose my package. And Komen really isn’t the perfect, research-above all organization that I thought it was.  Like many major non-profits it spends at least as much time on courting donors, sometimes unsavory ones, that it does on finding a cure.

I have lost something else too. I had planned on participating in the first ever Komen for a Cure race in Portsmouth, NH.  It was a big deal that Komen was coming to Portsmouth.. kind of thing that puts a little town on the map.. and I had recruited a number of friends to be part of my team.  There is no longer a team. Even if I wanted to participate, my friends have refused, and I can’t blame them.

To my friends at Planned Parenthood, congratulations You’ve gotten your message out, you’ve made the money back and more, and thank you mayor Bloomberg for your help.

To my friends at Komen. Write a book, and if you want to jump ship, we’re hiring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Podcaststeve]

Hi, Katie! I am particularly fascinated by the continued evidence we see in large organizations that they have made their communications advisors nothing more than mouthpieces for the script from senior management, not trusted advisors at the table telling them what the consequences of their decisions will be. We've seen this continue for decades, from Roger Smith at GM waving off advice from his PR team to please meet with Michael Moore, to JetBlue, to Bank of America, and now Komen.

Why do so many apparently smart senior business leaders get so wrapped up in believing in their own invincibility, ready to fire the PR department messengers when they tell the boss he doesn't have any clothes on?

[Dean]

Katie -

For sure this is devastating news that seems driven by politics. But putting that all aside, of course they will recover. I list as examples of "unrecoverable" reputations:
1. Michael Vick - Remember how mad we were at him and his dog escapades? Now? We cheer for him and he was rewarded with a $100M contract.
2. Bill Clinton - He slept with an intern for crissakes but today is lauded as one of the world's great leaders
3. BP - When's the last time you heard anything bad about them? How many people are still boycotting their service stations?
4. Domino's Pizza - we're outraged by the YouTube video showing disgraceful behavior of one of its franchisees but me thinks they are gonna sell a ton of pizza this weekend
5. GoDaddy - Shooting elephants, SOPA..we get mad but we don't stop registering those domains.

and your examples:

4. Southwest Airlines - despite kicking Kevin Smith off a flight for being too fat we still love our SWA
5. FedEx - They garner worldwide attention for chucking a monitor over a gate. Aside from a few days of "fake" outrage its business as usual for them.

My point is that we are great at short term outrage but short on follow-through. We crucify, forget, and then move on.

Komen will be no different and in this case the cause will prove to be more important than the actions - We've already seen it with the outpouring of donations to Planned Parenthood. Eventually, Komen come out will some mealy-mouth explanation, organization shakeup, or reversal of decision. The Race for the Cure will continue unabated and we'll wait for the next guy to stub their toe so we can get mad at them for a day or two. The pattern is all too familiar.

[Dave Hitt]

I realized they were the bad guys when I found they were spending a million dollars a year suing other charities who used the phrase "for the cure."

Now they've stepped in it, and they deserve to dry up and die. I doubt that will happen, but from now on when their name is mentioned most people won't think, "oh yeah, the breast cancer folks," but "oh yeah, the one who hate planned parenthood."

They've shown their true colors. Maybe they should switch to a black ribbon.

[Tracy]

Thank you for your eloquent response. You said what I am still too red-faced angry to express.