Ketchum would want to re-evaluate their VNR business. Is the revenue worth all the grief they are getting?
The fact they’ve been using Karen Ryan in the past is worrying to say the least, given the uproar that followed previous VNRs. As a result the response to the Armstrong Williams appearance can’t have been a surprise.
Tell me they can’t have been surprised.
Did they even remember the furore around VNRs last year?
This article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has the most daming quote of all:
Meanwhile, at least one descendant of the original founders would rather not hear the Ketchum name again associated with this sort of situation.
Carlton Ketchum, a great-nephew of the two founders, works at an insurance agency in town and has never been a part of the agency business. But the distinctive moniker means people he meets frequently ask if he is related to the firm.
He admits it could be much worse. “I’m glad my last name isn’t Enron.”
As I’ve said before, VNRs do have a role to play. It can provide useful visual background material, but it is not editorial and any parties trying to present it as such have crossed the line between PR and propoganda.
Murphy's Law 