Corporate Compliance in a Sea of Soundbytes

Recently the State Bar of Texas Corporate Counsel section requested Tim Rotheberg of Coats Rose law firm and Miranda Sevcik, Principal of Media Masters write an article about the dangers of communication to the media during a corporate crisis.

In the court of public opinion there is no longer room for error. These days an errant Tweet, inappropriate picture or offhand comment to a reporter can bring down a CEO, plummet a stock price and guarantee a lawsuit.

For example, in an interview with Bloomberg TV late last year, Chip Wilson, the founder of high-priced athletic clothing manufacturer, Lululemon, blamed the recall of a line of yoga pants on the size of certain women’s’ thighs. Wilson stated, “Frankly, some women’s bodies just don’t actually work [for the yoga pants],” and as for the recall problems, he stated, “it’s more really
about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there over a period of time, how much they use it.”

Read the full article here.