Komen and Planned Parenthood
Comments
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Ari Fleischer - that was some Bushie gem, what....
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Pompeed! I agree with you on your Komen PR comment!
What were they thinking? -
Thats too bad hillck. I wasn't aware Komen supported a lot of pass through facilities. In my mind, that is a huge waste of funds.
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Yes I do. I absolutely do. As soon as another organization gains even a fraction of the prominence that Komen has, Komen is done. There were already a significant number of women out there (survivors, primarily) who were becoming increasingly disenchanted with pinkwashing, Pinktober and the amount of money that Komen did (not!) give to research. I think this just pushed a lot of women (like I was) who supported them because it was easy and they were big right over the edge into looking for organizations that better matched up with their beliefs and what they wanted in a research capacity. I have been a PP supporter for many years and am re-energized. I have also turned my cancer donation focus elsewhere. Komen will now forever be associated with Karen Handel and the rightwing move to defund PP. That will attract some and drive away many.
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HL,
I'm shaking my head in amazement at Komen, too. I really don't understand how an organization of this size could make such a huge blunder.
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Okay,
I started looking around as to how this whole Komen cuts funding to PP story got public. Did Komen announce? Did PP tattle? Did some news anchor catch wind and sense a big story?
I just don't see Komen doing a press release and saying, "Hey, guys! Guess what?". Surely, they didn't, did they?
Anyone know how the largest PR blunder in history began?
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Perhaps they hired ideology over expertise (I have seen it happen over and over). Or they didn't think anyone would notice, since they defunded $12 million in research grants last year and nobody said anything. Or they didn't care. Or their PR person was just so bad or so inexperienced that they had no idea of what was coming. My cat could have seen that one!
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All kinds of well-known phrases come out of epic stupid operations which become public . We have Watergate as the name for political ditry tricks and Iraqgate for Bush's mess of going to war on account of WMDs which never existed and were known not to exist and Iran-Contra for Reagan's money laundering and gun running operation. Lots of others too.
From now on, going on a bender for a couple of days and then trying to make it all up to everybody one offended in the process will be called "doing a Komen."
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HL - I think they underestimated the power of MoveOn twitter amd Facebook.
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Either they didn't think people would notice or they didn't care. And yes, they underestimated the backlash ... again, the hallmark of a completely incompetent PR staff. Prepare for the absolute worst. Maybe they thought they were invulnerable? I really don't know, because I would never have let it get that far. Had I applied for the job and taken it (I saw the ad and thought about it), I would have strongly advised them against doing it, told them how to do it properly, and resigned if they didn't follow my advice. You don't want to wear this one in a career!
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Komen didn't need the help of any journalist snooping about and asking tough questions. Didn't need PP out in public telling "woe to us -- look at the letter we got from Komen!" tales either.
Komen did it all by itself with a public announcement out of its own mouth piece which completely blindsided PP, the politicians and the public too.
Komen doesn't get to point fingers at anyone else and whine about being outted. All done with its own announcements. Open mouth, insert both feet. Take aim at PP and shoot yourself in your own two feet. Make it all worse with the waffle wobble and the wiggling and the wriggling and the serial excuses and non-reasons.
This comes under the heading of: "How to Wreck Your Own Brand in Less Than a Week." It's a classic for all marketing students.
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Just proof that Komen had become corrupted by its supposed power - thought every single women who had breast cancer (and their families and friends) would just go along to get along - those days are gone - we need a cure, not pinkwashing, walks, hikes etc. Times have changed - Komen didn't.
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I haven't supported Komen for years as I have for years felt they were not appropriately spending their money, paying their executives too much, spending too little on research, and putting their raised money towards self serving projects rather than the supposed intended purpose... This whole PP thing is just an example of their blunders and misappropriations of funds.A couple of posts a page back or two (Libby and Lindasa) said it well.
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Lol... So HL, and Pompeed, can we agree?
Komen majorly screwed up! (And that's the understatement of the year!)
Wow, HL! I bet you've run this scenario through your head a lot! I'm sure you would have done a much better job of executing this, if you'd had to. I'm sure you have a much better understanding of what went on this past week, then most of the people here (and apparently most of the people at Komen, as well
).So how long ago was this Komen PR position filled? I wonder if this PR person had experience. I'm kind of sad for whoever it was... like you said HL, you wouldn't want to wear this one on your career, if that person even has a career in PR after this.
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Komen has scrubbed its press releases on its site, so there is nothing there. PP's first release was on 1/31 and said that Komen had been telling affiliates that it would no longer fund grants to PP. This is what the release said about those notifications:
In the last few weeks, the Komen Foundation has begun notifying local Planned
Parenthood programs that their breast cancer initiatives will not be eligible
for new grants (beyond existing agreements or plans). The Komen Foundation's
leadership did not respond to Planned Parenthood requests to meet with the Komen
Board of Directors about the decision.Further along in the 1/31 release:
"To ensure that the Komen Foundation's decision doesn't jeopardize any woman's
access to lifesaving screenings and services, Planned Parenthood has launched a
Breast Health Emergency Fund. The fund will offset the support that 19 local
Planned Parenthood programs stand to lose from Komen. The Komen-funded Planned
Parenthood programs have helped thousands of women in rural and underserved
communities get breast health education, screenings, and referrals for
mammograms." (sorry, browser is hinky and won't do a second round of italics)There is more about disappointment, etc. So, fairly straightforward ... Komen National doesn't tell PP national directly, just tells Komen affiliates (big mistake). Affiliates tell local PPs, locals tell National, National tries to get a meeting, Komen says no, National PP goes public to replace $$. Just what I would advise National PP to do. That's all they had to do was say it. It was the truth -- they said it and stood back. Komen let everyone else define the message.
Here is the link to the release -- it won't let me make it live, I don't think: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/alarmed-saddened-komen-foundation-succumbing-political-pressure-planned-parenthood-launches-fun-38629.htm
Oh, I guess it is live.
So there you have it ... it appears that instead of standing up and telling up front, Komen just dribbled it out and hoped nobody would notice. Ugh.
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I saw the position advertised last fall, but I am still recovering from my August bilateral DIEP (difficult recovery) and facing Stage II DIEP in 2 weeks, as well as an ooph in late spring/early summer. I didn't apply, although I thought it would be an interesting job. It was just going to be too demanding (little did I know). I am not ready to retire from where I am now, either. I would have had to resign once the PP defunding came up -- I would not have been able to stay after that. They must've filled it at the end of last year.
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Me too, hillck. Makes me cringe.
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Pompeed --- NO! Surely Komen didn't? Oh, good grief... They did pull a "Hey, guys! Guess what?"? Wow... unbelieveable!
hillck... thanks for the perspective on pass throughs...good information! It certainly does sound like they do a lot of good.
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This is a good article that just popped up in the Washington Post that quite well captures the range of feelings about what happened. To use the vernacular, Komen screwed the pooch with just about everyone.
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Oh, HappyLibby... I'm so sorry you are going through so many surgeries and such long recovery times
. Please take care of yourself. -
If you want to predict what Komen will do, watch Handel. She is the bellwether ... if she resigns, Komen will back off the politics. If she stays, Komen will get more and more political. That will be the single key indicator.
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Thank you, Faye ... that is very kind of you. I have a lot of great support from friends and family and my work. I have my eye fixed on Labor Day -- that's when I think I'll start really feeling human again. Thanks for your good wishes.
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Ooh, here is a brand-new article on their PR strategy, again from the Washington Post. Very interesting ... they brought in a big gun with Ogilvy, but they are keeping Ari Fleischer (looks political, is a poor move since he was consulting before the debacle).
Sorry, this is fascinating to me as a professional, but others might not be so interested. This will give you a good idea of what is involved in brand management, though.
L
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HappyLibby
Great article! I enjoyed how it gave so many different perspectives on the events from the past week. Thanks for sharing!
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Happy Libby:
Query for you: if the Board pushes Handel out, why won't it push Brinker out too as part of the political connection? Or is it just "not done" to push out the founder even in circumstances where the future of the whole organization is at stake?
And thanks for the links to the pieces. There will be more about all of this in the coming days no doubt. It's a big pile for a journalist to sift through. It would be karmic justice if Komen ends up being the subject of an "investigation."
I'm fascinated too.
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Pompeed,
No, they won't push Brinker out. Susan G. Komen was her sister -- the story is too compelling. But they might push her aside in the decision-making. Handel is another story -- she is overtly political, having run for Governor of Georgia. She is avowedly, overtly, vocally anti-PP and nothing but political. I don't know that she even has public health credentials, does she? (She was also involved in voter-suppression of minorities in Georgia when she was Secretary of State.) Komen cannot keep her and not make a political statement.
Oh, there will be loads of books about this. More will come out. I would love to write the book myself, but I don't have the time, the energy, or the connections to do it. I will buy it when it arrives, though!
L -
I know all about her politics. All kinds of machinations and manipulations going on there regarding access to voting when she was Secretary of State. And her campaign rhetoric as far as anti-PP is concerned when she was running for office is well known.
Far as I know from what I can gather so far (a close friend of mine is very politically connected in Florida and well acquainted with Stearns and we've had a chat or two about all of the goings on) she no public health credentials at all.
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HL -- I agree. Mrs Brinker is the public face of Komen. She may feel she has done damage control via the statement made yesterday. I don't think so. Komen is probably just now beginning to understand the severe damage to its reputation and more will be expected (Handel's resignation at the very least) to try to repair it.
Having spent my working (and volunteer) life in the non-profit sector, I have seen this sort of thing before with a couple of national organizations. Without major changes at the top -- or at least the ouster of the presumed "cause" -- there is no hope for things to continue as before. And I feel quite confident that much of the persuasion for change at the top will come from the corporations who are publicly affiliated with Komen. In fact, I feel pretty certain that these companies were the most influential in Ms Brinker making her statement yesterday.
But I very much doubt it was enough.....
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Dear NaturalNews readers,On the Planned Parenthood issue, Komen for the Cure has been caught flip-flopping more than a gang of penguins in a foot race on the beach.
First, Komen said they would cut off funding to PP, and now they've reversed their position and will once again fund mammograms at abortion centers.
But what's the real story in all this? That the entire Komen organization is a huge fundraising scam. They don't cure cancer. They sell false hope and actually cause cancer with their mobile radiation machines.
Here's the full story, reported by Ethan Huff:
http://www.naturalnews.com/034875_Planned_Parenthood_Komen_breast_cancer.htmlCheck out this must-see video called Pink Ribbons, Inc., which exposes the total sham of the pink ribbon fundraising hoax:
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=A6850654D4A85F4EA97EE37046D074F3I've been exposing this for years, of course. Check out this CounterThink cartoon I created in 2006. It seemed outlandish at the time, but now it all makes sense to people, six years later:
http://counterthink.com/Cancer_Industry_Controls_Women.asp -
Here's some numbers, for those who like them...
Komen donates $600,000 a year to PP.
PP recieves about $360,000,000 a year in just tax payer monies... This isn't considering any other donations they receive.
So, if this were the only $ PP received, PP would have lost .17% of their income from Komen.
Convert this to numbers we can relate too...
If a household making $50,000 saw this kind of a reduction in their salary, it would equate to $85 a year, or $1.64 a week,
I'm guessing someone at Komen can do math. I'm pretty sure they knew their lack of donation was not going to do any significant damage to women's healthcare, as is being claimed.
Who thinks it's about women's healthcare now?
It wasn't about women's healthcare for PP. It was about flexing political muscle and making an example out of Komen.
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