scandal

The University of Wisconsin is facing scrutiny after the chancellor of the La Crosse campus was “reprimanded” for inviting porn star Nina Hartley to speak on campus. The Wisconsin University System’s president “questioned the judgment” of UW-LaCrosse chancellor Joe Gow after he invited Hartley to come and deliver a lecture during “Free Speech Week.” The 59-year-old adult actress was reportedly paid $5,000 for the appearance. During the presentation, Hartley shared her perspective on the pornography industry and whether or not her work was “acceptable” or “fantasy.”  Coming on the heels of the ongoing sexual abuse scandal at Michigan State University,... Read More >

It’s been a shaky couple of weeks for Dolce and Gabbana, after they released an ad campaign that has been described as “disrespectful and racist”. The backlash has been immediate and hard, ranging from boycotts by celebrities and having its products withdrawn from Chinese e-commerce sites. The Italian luxury fashion house’s controversial advertising campaign includes videos of a Chinese model struggling to eat various Italian dishes with chopsticks. The ad was designed to promote a major fashion show in Shanghai, which has now been canceled. Chinese-French model Estelle Chen, who withdrew from the show, tagged Dolce and Gabbana on an... Read More >

Shocking investigation shows feces-covered cages, flies crawling over eggs, animal abuse; non-profit Lever calls on Marriott to treat Asian customers equally Washington DC — Shocking video footage released this morning shows extreme food safety risks and animal cruelty at farms of an egg supplier to Bethesda-based hotel chain Marriott International. The footage shows: Feces and dirt caked on the bars of cages where eggs are laid, and feces piled up just inches away from eggs and from the birds themselves Flies crawling over eggs, and eggs coated with feces Mother hens packed in cages so small they can barely turn... Read More >

Using consumers at risk of identity theft We live in the age of the computer pirate, the hacker, and the security breach. It’s almost becoming pedestrian. Week after week, someone is getting hacked. From big box stores to restaurants to grocery stores to government agencies and political groups. Hacking feels just part of life these days. But not all hacks are created equal. Some hacks create more fear than others. When it was announced last week that credit monitoring bureau, Equifax, had been hacked, American consumers grabbed their hearts and their wallets. Then they read further, and that only made... Read More >

Nation Branding is a means to build and maintain a country’s strategic advantage with the purpose of economic growth. It is the process of figuring out a nation’s economic identity and how it will be communicated to the trading nations of the world. As a consequence of globalization, all countries must compete with each other for attention, respect and trust of investors, tourists, consumers, donors, immigrants, media, and the governments of other nations; a powerful and positive nation brand provides a crucial competitive advantage. It is essential for countries to understand how the people around the world see them; how... Read More >

Infamous documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has made a career out of celebrating liberal ideas and giving conservatives fits. He has never shied away from controversy or worried over much if his ideas might be pushing a conversation too far one way. If there was one thread throughout all his commentary and movies, though, it was that the “little guy” or “Joe Sixpack America,” was getting the shaft. Workers were being hosed by the powers that be. Blue collar Dems loved him. White collar Dems did their best to tolerate the slobbish, ball-capped filmmaker. Then, about halfway through the last Presidential... Read More >

United Airline is taking a public relations beating this year…much of it self-inflicted. Now, after months of misfires and misreading public sentiment, the company appears to be trying to make moves in the right direction. Moves that some are calling “baby steps” … but at least they’re moving. Recently, the company began promising to “bump” fewer passengers off planes against their will. This was the policy that created a massive PR scandal after a doctor was dragged off a flight after refusing to give up a seat he paid for. The incident was captured on film, and rage erupted against... Read More >

Hobby Lobby leadership has agreed to pay millions in fines to the US federal government after being found to have illegally smuggled religious artifacts from the Middle East. According to the federal accusation, the company or associates related to the company engaged in “intentionally mislabeling” Iraqi religious artifacts for import into the United States. Hobby Lobby’s owners are devout Christians who, according to various media reports, share a strong and enduring interest in “biblical” artifacts. They began collecting historical items back in 2009 with the intention of eventually opening a museum of Middle Eastern religious history, which is being called... Read More >

Once there is a corporate crisis, there’s also a big threat to the financial fortunes of the company, as well as their relations and reputation with the world at large and the key stakeholders. For large organizations, such a crisis is likely to strike more than once and as often as every five years on average. That means that leaders of any company, especially the large ones, should expect to face a crisis at least once while holding their position, and that includes members of the board of directors. Having a plan to face this possibility is imperative. Osler, Hoskin... Read More >

There are a lot of mergers in the air. As Fox is trying to make good on its offer to buy Britain’s Sky TV network, Verizon is in the process of trying to collect Yahoo. And it looks like Verizon is a lot closer to making this happen than they were after shareholders approved a revised buyout agreement that would send Yahoo’s core assets over to Verizon’s keeping. When the acquisition is approved, market watchers say the next step for Verizon will be to merge Yahoo and AOL into a single digital company, changing the name to Oath. When that... Read More >