Saturday, February 1, 2014

A&E's Duck Dynasty Fiasco

Centel MediaLove them or hate them, the Duck Dynasty and network A&E certainly have their hands full at the moment.


Homophobic and racist slurs? Check. Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the family of popular show Duck Dynasty was seen making these disparaging remarks targeting gays and African Americans, which led to the show's network host A&E suspending the man from the program. However, they probably didn't anticipate the reaction from the family members, who stood by Robertson and as of this writing don't want to move forward without him. This has put A&E in something of a trap, as they will stand to lose a lot if they cancel the show. At the same time, they as a network will lose credibility if they leave these remarks unchallenged, as they face the fury of civil rights and LGBT organizations.  Roberton has probably unwittingly single handedly made this a calamity for both himself and A&E. This especially affects the latter, who has become a target of negative criticism from conservatives and liberals alike.


From a modern perspective, what Robertson said was wrong. In the United States, there is supposed to be nothing wrong with speaking your mind. However, as a public figure (not to mention a believer of the Christian faith), saying things like this is just begging for people to dislike him due to intolerance because people know who he is. If his goal was to state his mind with the intention of getting people angry at him, he did his job proper.  And if he was thinking like a businessman, he would never have said the statements that he did.


A&E is at fault here as well for putting themselves in this position. If they knew anything about the Duck Dynasty family, they would know that they're very close knit and an attack on one of them would be considered an attack on all. Their decision to single out the only offender is probably something they're kicking themselves in the head right now. This has severely damaged their reputation in the eyes of both conservative and liberal thinkers alike.


Judging by Robertson's comments, he doesn't seem to mind offending a particular group of people. A&E, however, will probably be trying to fix this PR disaster. If you or someone you know is in a bit of a pickle like A&E is right now, Centel Media™ could very well be the answer to helping one recover from a mess like this one. As the leading onlinereputation management company, we have many products designed to counter negative publicity, maintain a positive image, and to make sure that this will never happen again to you or your company. Our products include negative suppression of critical articles, images, videos, reviews, the creation of social media web pages and optimization efforts for those pages, incorporating appealing designs of websites, publishing positive press releases, and the optimization of website traffic through Google AdWords and domain name registration. Don't let PR disasters ruin your organization. Let us help you fix the problem so you can get back on your feet.


Jonathan Wong,
Creative Writer,
Matthew Shaffer,
Editor-In-Chief,