Review of Talespin by Gerry McCusker
April 1, 2005
I recently read Talespin: Public Relations Disasters - Inside Stories & Lessons Learned by Gerry McCusker.
Now, crisis communications isn't my area of expertise, but I have a little knowledge of it based on my academic training years ago, and other reading I have done. However, after reading this book, I can't say I know much more about the practice of crisis comms than I did before I started.
To me, the book can be summed up as junk food for PR professionals: Lots of gossip and stories, but of little substance.
The book is set up in alphabetical order according to topic: Astroturfing, Briefings, Celebrities, Diplomacy, etc. [That seemed a little weird to me. Isn't that what an index is for?] Each topic has a story related to it. For example: Endorsement - Radio star makes waves (p. 57). Each story runs a page or two, with big bold subheads and ends with a text box containing the "lesson learned." Result: the book is easy to scan.
Unfortunately, it doesn't really deliver anything of substance. Rather, it delivers a lot of armchair quarterbacking and general platitudes. Rarely do you ever actually hear from the people involved as to what happened behind the scenes. Why does a crisis occur? In many cases, it is because the PR person was left out of the mix. It would have been interesting to examine some of the power struggles that happen behind the scenes, but you never actually get to see any of that.
So, I was left at the end with more questions than answers. The stories made me wince, and sometimes laugh, and I think the book could be a good resource for someone seeking to identify a crisis to investigate in more detail. So, my bottom line? Amusing, but it didn't really teach me anything.
-- Elizabeth Albrycht
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Hi Elizabeth
You seem to have changed your site design...can I ask why in this process you have not featured my response to your original review, which was posted for some time. I thought it respectfully addressed the points you made?
Ta Gerry
Thanks Elizabeth,
Here's how some other reviewers saw the book:
Reviews:
‘Sit back and let McCusker’s tales of woe and little grey commentary boxes teach you how to manage any bad day at PR central’ - The Times (London)
“Quietly but quickly get hold of this book. Read it once and then slip it into your top drawer, briefcase or put it somewhere handy. Next time you plan PR, take it out and leaf through it. Gerry McCusker’s book might just save your career and rescue your organization or your clients from future embarrassment.” Bob Crawshaw, Maine Street
‘For the younger communication executive, the book is a must’ - Brand Strategy
‘Absolutely fabulous’ - The Glaswegian
‘A fun, yes fun, book about PR disasters’ - BrandChannel
‘An excellent book for corporate business executives and students of communications’ - Alan Capper, Adjunct Professor, New York University
‘Gerry McCusker’s book offers some salutary lessons in how not to do it’ - Glasgow Herald
‘McCusker’s…book is more about substance than spin and reality than theory’ - Brand Strategy
‘A set of cautionary tales for the modern Public Relations practitioner that tells you how to do it right…’ Easyjet Inflight Magazine
‘A thoroughly good read for all students of public relations and indeed for every practitioner’ - Professor Tim Traverse Healy, OBE, PR legend
‘McCusker’s book is full of advice about how to turn an utter shambles into a learning experience’ - Bristol Evening Post
‘Reading about (other peoples’) crises is, I must admit, a damn lot of fun’ - Trevor Cook, PR Blogger
“Details some of the world’s most infamous, and/or humorously absurd, public relations disasters and the resultant fallout from them… draws lessons for public relations professionals.” - Journal of Economic Literature
Public Relations Disasters’ is an A to Z of botched PR jobs from Seattle right across the globe to Sydney, Australia. It’s a book about PR agencies, PR counselors, PR firms, spin doctors, the clients who pay them and the media that scrutinises every move they make. It looks at inept PR practice and is full of incisive PR writing designed to educate and entertain.
Using real-life PR gaffes from the PR business, media, music, politics and sport, ‘Talespin’ shows how the bullshit hits the fan and the PR goes pear-shaped.
While amusing yet shocking, its message is deadly serious: malpractice, misjudgement and the media agenda, combust to create PR disasters. 79 case studies, each with its own lesson learnt, show you how to avoid the catastrophic errors of judgement that create PR disasters.