Wow, Mel Gibson really stepped in it now.
While I continue to believe that the whole social media scene is way over-hyped (ahem… show me the money), it is probably under-hyped in one area — the speed in which BAD news can travel FAST.
Whether your company is engaged in social media (blogging, tweeting, facebook-ing, youtubing), you have to assume that all of your customers are (or could if pissed off enough).
There are allegations that Mel Gibson threatened the mother of his child with physical violence (after being accused of knocking our her front teeth earlier this year), insulted blacks, and further insulted latinos.
Okay, so what makes this hollywood scandal differrent?
An audio recording.
Yes, Mel was caught in a recording lashing out in a f-bomb laden conversation with Oksana Grigorieva.
And what makes this scandal even worse for Mel Gibson is the audio is posted online so you can hear it for yourself!
Here’s the link to the actual audio recording:
[Warning: the audio is completely unedited. It pretty offensive. There are no censorship beeps. If you plan to listen to it, watch your volume controls be aware of who else might be listening in.]
So what’s the big lesson in all this applicable to business owners?
HOW you treat your employees, customers, and suppliers is more important than ever.
HOW your employees treat your customers and suppliers is equally important.
ASSUME all bad, unethical, unprofessional, rude, obnoxious behavior will be broadcast globally (it only takes about 60 seconds to do so these days) and act accordingly.
Hey, bad news travels the globe in seconds… and sadly good news often does not (but I’ll save that topic for another day).
In a search on twitter (which is lousy for business by the way, but very interesting to gauge national consciousness), the Mel Gibson story is lighting up the twitter-sphere with several comments added every second (literally). Watch this story as it progress through the twitter/facebook-sphere first, hit the blogs later today, and hit mainstream news by Monday at the latest.
His talent agency has dropped him as a client.
He is now considered untouchable by Hollywood. Apparently, Lindsey Lohan (who is heading to prison) is now considered a safer choice than Mel Gibson
And the only people cheering about this situation is British Petroleum because the Mel Gibson scandal distracts people from paying attention to the BP oil crisis.
Oh and if that’s not enough, the two minute audio clip is just 2 out of 30 minutes of audio where Mel basically implodes.
The site that obtained exclusive rights to the audio will very likely continue to publish 2 minute snippets every few days for weeks… until all 30 minutes. (BP can only hope this will happen until that can plug up that darn leaking oil well in August)
“Behave. People are watching.”
But then again, don’t freeze and become afraid of your own creative ways to communicate.
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
This is a compelling reminder of the importance of staying in charge of what you say and do. One useful Kidpower Safety Skill that can be helpful is Mouth Closed Power. Squeeze your lips together to stop yourself from using your mouth in an unsafe way.