Well, this isn’t the first time I’ve blogged about 5W PR … and it probably won’t be the last.
While Ronn Torrossian has done an outstanding job of publicizing himself and his firm, he continues to do it via negative publicity. The fact that clients continue to invest their dollars with this firm astounds me. Don’t reporters and clients do their homework anymore? (I mean really, who’s substantiating this fastest growing claim? The company is privately held and many of these rankings are questionable at best).
Anyway, the latest blow up stems from blogging (http://www.prweekus.com/5W-faces-accusation-for-blog-misconduct/article/112308/). Considering the circumstances, the fact that this firm touts its ability to counsel on the subject is mind blowing.
Here’s the gist of it. 5W, on behalf of its client, Agriprocessors (a kosher meat processing company that has been under fire), impersonated Rabbi Morris Allen of Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights, MN, and posted blog comments under his name on the Failed Messiah blog.
The comments were traced back to the IP address of 5W SVP Juda Engelmayer, and the company initially blamed a junior level intern! But wait, there’s more…this gets better. According to gawker.com:
When busted, senior vice president Juda Engelmayer blamed an unpaid 5WPR intern who he refused to name. Now, news service JTA is severely undercutting this explanation by reporting it traced one of the fake comments to Engelmayer’s home (in part by matching the internet address of a comment to the internet address of an Engelmayer email). Whoops! Hard to blame interns at the office when the stuff is coming from your own pad. How are you going to explain this one, Juda?
By claiming he had an intern at his Lower East Side apartment at 10 pm on a Tuesday night, apparently. Said JTA:
A person identifying himself as the intern in question called JTA Thursday, but refused to provide a full name. The caller said that he posted the fraudulent comment to the JTA site using a computer at Engelmayer’s apartment during a get-together there Tuesday night, but without Engelmayer’s knowledge.
According to an article on PRWeek.com:
Upon reading of the incident, Bob Frause, chairman of Public Relations Society of America’s board of ethics and professional standards, proposed free ethics training to member and non-member agencies, as well as corporate communications personnel.
If a 5W employee did impersonate Allen, Frause said the agency would have infringed on two PRSA ethical guidelines in place to prevent the disclosure of fraudulent information and deceptive practices.
This strikes me as funny for several reasons. First and foremost, this agency could care less about ethical guidelines…just take a look at their track record. Second, numerous industry groups such as IABC and Bulldog continue to invite Torrossian to speak as an expert on PR. Why can’t we do a better job of policing ourselves? One minute we’re putting this guy on a pedestal and the next, we’re trying to knock him off it.
Frankly, this comes as no surprise to me. Many agencies view the blogosphere as a free for all. As an industry, we need to do a better job of educating practitioners on the importance of truth and transparency no matter the medium.
In the meantime, firms like 5W will continue to prosper while giving the industry a bad name unless more of us speak up.
