Take on the world: Spinning out of control

PR disasters... the first thing that springs to mind has to be Eskom. Joburg is like one big parking lot (and the rest of the country is suffering too), productivity is a forgotten memory and we are having to come to terms with the fact that we need to learn to live without electricity for the next few years.

What I don't understand is why the power failures only started this week. Why was the national grid able to cope last year, but once the energy regulator refused to grant Eskom its requested 18% increase in tariffs, instead settling for 14%, the grid fell apart. Is there a conspiracy theory here?

Eskom's spin doctors have, to give them credit, been willing to speak to the media, but there is not much they can say to make us feel better about the situation.

This is in contrast to Tiger Brands, which in the midst of a massive PR disaster, has announced it will put up the wholesale price of bread by 40 cents.

The company was fined R99-million by the Competition Tribunal in November last year after it was found to have been involved in price-fixing - for that read screwing consumers -- in the Western Cape.

Tiger Brands made a R2,4-billion pre-tax profit last year, so the fine represents only some four percent of its profits for a single year, according to Rob Rose of Financial Mail. "When you consider this in terms of the total money it made, this fine represents less than 1% of its R16,4bn turnover last year," he wrote (for more click here).

If I was Tiger Brands' communications advisor, I would have suggested they find a way to absorb this increase, at least for a while. The bean counters may think this doesn't make business sense, but are they ignoring the long-term cost to the company's reputation?

I do understand that wheat prices and the oil prices have risen, and are playing a role in the increase, but the announcement still leaves me clenching my teeth in irritation.

I am just one consumer, but I have taken the time to visit Tiger Brands' website to check out which brands they own, and I will now avoid buying those brands. The website address is www.tigerbrands.co.za in case you're interested, and its bread is sold under the Albany label.

Another brand that I might be avoiding in the future (although I have never been a fan), is Lacoste. The Goliath clothing manufacturer decided to go after its David, a dental practice in a small English town which had a crocodile on its signage.

Lacoste took legal action, claiming that the sign could lead people to wrongly associate the dental surgery with its brand. Luckily the court disagreed and common sense prevailed.

The moral of the story: all these PR disasters involve big companies. Maybe they should start hiring themselves some good communication experts who are in touch with the sentiment of the man and woman on the street.