Whole Lies
Whole Foods’ Founder Caught in Whole Lies
Len Stein - President Visibility - Public Relations
So no one knows if you’re a dog on the Internet? Better think twice before you don those funny ears and tail and head for the blogosphere. And, remember this old saw, any publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right? Wrong again, I think, even as Mr. Mackey reaps a multi-million dollar PR bonus.
Perhaps we might ask Whole Fools, er Foods, founder John Mackey, who is surely feeling the heat ratchet up, likely soon to be legal, as a torrent of news and angry editorials rain down on his parade in literally dozens of pages of Google News citations.
Just to bring you up to speed, a sampling of headlines:
- Whole Foods Is Hot, Wild Oats a Dud -- So Said 'Rahodeb', WSJ
- How Whole Foods CEO Led 2 Lives
- FTC: Mackey posted Whole Foods stock comments undercover – Austin American ...
- Whole Foods CEO Mackey Is Out Of His Organic Mind - Seeking Alpha
- Whole Foods Executive Used Alias – The New York Times
- Whole Foods' CEO was busy guy online - USATODAY.com
Agreed, we are still in the early days of blogging, and of the Internet for that matter, and things change with blazing speed, but there are some near eternal verities that might apply to bloggers. A number of Moses wannabees have delivered commandments to us and some seem to pertain especially to this landmark case. Here’s a couple from ThinkHammer’s Ten Commandments of Blogging.
1)Thou Shalt Speak in Thine Own Voice. (Everyone has a natural voice when they write. Some people are cranky, some are funny, some are strictly business. All voices can be ok, just make sure the voice you use is your own. If you try to sound like someone or something you're not, your readers will spot the fake right away.) What ThinkHammer forgot to mention, that is especially significant for PR people as well as CEOs is that one must own up to his/her own voice – meaning identity, and no anonymous postings.
7) Thou Shalt Be Truthful. (This should be easy. Don't write or repeat things you know or suspect to be false. Eager bloggers can quickly become a pitchfork wielding mob in search of a victim. Look for trustworthy authoritative sources. Take deep breaths. Think before you post.) Well, how about deceitfully posting for some seven years or more as someone called Rahodeb, even though it doesn’t sound like any dog’s name I know.
10) Thou Shalt Have Fun (You're probably not getting paid for this, so take your compensation in delight. If it's not fun, try something else. If you are getting paid, you'll probably find the job easier and more rewarding if you are having fun while you do it.) We gotta agree with this one, but, even though Mackey takes but $1 annually in salary, not in this case. Now let’s review several of Steve Rubel’s Moses offering to see where Mr. Mackey falls down Mt. Zion. 10 Commandments for The Era of Participatory Public Relations
4) Thou shall not be fake – Keep it real; don't hide behind characters and phony IDs.
7) Thou shall embrace blogging – It’s not a fad, it’s here to stay. Be part of it.
9) Thou shall tell the truth – If you don’t tell the truth, it will come out anyway.
There it is, the word I was looking for all along, “truth,” which as this, and all pundits of the practice of PR well know, will out, and sooner than later. So, lesson learned. Let’s be all we can be, reach for the stars, just do it… and by that I mean, stick to the truth in our communications.
