Politics aside, he is the President of the United States and once upon a time it would have been an honor to host a presidential visit. Now, it can lead to some uncomfortable situations.
Case in point. President Trump visited Cincinnati on Monday. Here’s a small sampling of the national headlines to follow:
Trump Accuses Democrats of ‘Treason’ Amid Market Route, NY Times
Trump Attacks Democrats and Urges Republicans to Vote, The Wall Street Journal
Trump turns up heat on ‘un-American’ Dems silent during SOTU: ‘Can we call that treason?’, Fox News
The companies taking the stage with President Trump were there to talk about the tax bill and the American workers who received bonuses and higher paychecks because of it. But a flippant remark from the president, possibly in response to something shouted from the audience, quickly ignited the powder keg of political rhetoric and overshadowed any positive recognition the companies were hoping to get.
The national news outlets kept our Cincinnati companies out of the melee that followed. But local media pushed a little harder and this commentary in the Cincinnati Business Courier came down pretty hard on local Fifth Third Bank.
To quickly summarize: The Fifth Third Bank spokesperson, an experienced public relations professional, was asked by the Business Courier reporter whether it was safe to assume the company’s CEO did not agree that it was treasonous not to applaud the president. The spokesperson repeated the same answer he had given to a previous question: their CEO “wasn’t there for any political reasons, more to support the policy around tax cuts.”
In the next paragraph of the article, the reporter rails at Fifth Third and writes “unless all of Fifth Third’s customers are Republicans, it’s hard to understand why the company would decline to be a little bit more definitive about the distinctly North Korean notion that not applauding the president constitutes treason.”
It’s not hard to understand at all if you have worked in corporate PR. While not all of Fifth Third’s customers are Republicans, you can assume at least 50 percent of them are. Furthermore, what readers were not reminded about in the Business Courier’s article is that Fifth Third’s Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Jelena McWilliams, is Trump’s nominee for the Chief of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Fifth Third Bancorp stands to benefit if a new Republican chief of the FDIC backs the Federal Reserve in relaxing the leverage ratio.
Fifth Third’s spokesperson had to walk a precarious line, wording his response to respect his superiors and their relationship with the president, as well as respecting the opinions and interests of both Republican and Democratic customers. He chose to hold firm to the company’s approved key message and the reporter pounced.
It’s at most a miniscule blip on the PR meter for Fifth Third. But it got me thinking. What would I have done in this situation?
My inclination is that the Fifth Third spokesperson was right to stick to the neutral company line even if he did take some heat for it. His job is to be an advocate for his client and his client’s stakeholders.
However, the common-sense response is treason is defined as a crime. It’s not a crime not to clap for someone. Of course, Fifth Third didn’t agree with the president’s statement. Why couldn’t they say that without fear of retribution? Even the president later came out and said it was a joke.
What’s the right answer? Is there one?
Preparation with the C-Suite is key in public relations today. The more you know about their stakeholders, relationships, tolerance level for media scrutiny and future business moves, the better prepared you will be to gracefully handle the unexpected.