What is that expression about no publicity is bad publicity? Giant Tiger, a discount retailer in Canada erred when it marketed Playboy branded underwear (thongs and bras) in its back-to-school flyer. Although the ad was aimed at the back-to-college crowd, some parent…
A vile display of sportsmanship
The house league page on Richmond Hill Phoenix Baseball Club’s website reads “House League is a recreational level of baseball for players of all skill levels and experiences… The focus at this level is to promote sportsmanship, fun and greater…
Please leave Toyota alone
It is hard for anyone who is trained in Lean Six Sigma to understand the latest Toyota recall. Toyota wrote the book on quality after all. Really. Look up The Toyota Way. Six sigma is a process improvement methodology that…
Reputation risk – Novotel workers strike
When the French planned their G20 visit to Toronto, they must have figured it would be a nice nationalist gesture to book the Novotel hotel, owned by the French company Accor. In a move that reeks of poetic justice to…
G20 update – Day 1
It’s Monday, Day 1 leading up to the G20 which starts in Toronto on the weekend. Downtown Toronto is wrapped in fences. On my 3 block walk from Union Station to King Street, I saw no fewer than 20 local…
Bad name risk
There is absolutely nothing funny about what happened to the six women who claim to have been sexually assaulted by Regina, SK doctor Edward Poon. It’s awful in fact. Having said that, the guy’s last name is Poon. (If you don’t know…
Reputation risk and ERM
Have a read at this article in CFO.com about reputation risk. I always remind readers that reputation risk is a second order risk caused by some other event or risk. Think about Toyota: their reputation was harmed by the recent…
Is SEC spelled that way but pronounced like s-e-x
I wonder if the good folks at the ratings agencies were up to the same sort of shenanigans as the SEC when then were busy providing AAA ratings to CDO and other toxic debt. Google this: Senior SEC staffers caught surfing…
Freshly ground typo risk
It’s funny how the slightest typing error can cause so much chaos. Australian publisher destroys cookbook for recipe that called for ‘freshly ground black people’ An Australian publisher is reprinting 7,000 cookbooks over a recipe for pasta with “salt and…
Insuring against an athlete being involved in a scandal
New York Times writes about companies insuring against scandals like the recent Tiger Woods events. In the wake of the Tiger Woods scandal, insurers are being inundated with inquiries from corporations seeking to protect their investments, their brands and even…