17 October 2009

Bikies' PR company taking a risk

The Brisbane PR company that represents bikies has this to say on its web site: "We will not support business activities that we believe cause fundamental harm to people, communities, or the environment."

With reputation management a cornerstone of PR, I wonder if they're risking their reputation by having the bikies as a client?

Whatever the effect this will have on the PR company (whose ethics I find hard to fathom) certainly the bikies are spending up big. The campaign they're running has all bases covered, including a raft of web sites (national and State bodies in NSW, SA, Qld and WA). Some are on Twitter. However, I do wonder why one of the links leads to a gang in Norway.

The angle they're taking is that the proposed legislation, curtailing the right of freedom of association, will affect everyone in the community. Certainly, they have a point. But, as WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callahan pointed out, it only applies to groups with criminal leanings. Scouts, fear not.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should read the legislation that's been implemented in NSW and SA and see what's causing more harm -- a bunch of guys in leather jackets, or legislation that removes protections of the Rule of Law.

Good on these PRs for making an informed choice and standing up for something worth believing in.

Elly Thomas said...

Was that the same police commissioner who a) appeared on 6PR on Thursday about this issue and b) got his "intelligence" figures wrong; c) in doing so, defamed a bikie; d) had to correct himself for his "error". See the attached URL. I wouldn't trust anything that guy did/said.

Veteran Riders Australia said...

Argh. There's that terms PRs. They're not PR's they're PR practitioners. It's impossible to be a PR. Anyway, poor Karl did get it wrong. Yes, I'd agree the legislation is a concern, but not to your average person. Part of the bikies' PR spin is to make us worry that it will affect everyone, when clearly it will not. It only applies to groups that have criminal connections. And let's face it, bikies have criminal connections.