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In black and white: PR firm making headlines for all the wrong reasons

5 Apr 2017

NEWSWATCH: PR firms aim for good headlines for their clients, not ones where their own reputation is brought to question. That's exactly why we're seeing British firm Bell Pottinger gaining media mentions lately.

The Citizen reports that the campaign to name and shame Bell Pottinger executives grows.

This is the British PR firm accused of allegedly “intentionally sowing the seeds of racial division in order to distract from allegations of state capture by the Gupta family and Zuma".

The Daily Maverick writes that Bell Pottinger managed the cabinet reshuffle matter well, with weeks of speculation that it would happen.

Unfortunately, they’re now getting bad PR locally as TimesLive writes that 'white monopoly capital' was the chosen distraction in their PR strategy to clear the Guptas.

Very insightful. The term #WhiteMonopolyCapital did not exist on Google prior to #Gupta appointment of #BellPottinger #NuclearDeal pic.twitter.com/iLdsaBUUGd
— Trending Crimes SA (@CICArsa) April 3, 2017

Playing on race in our race-sensitive country is sure to light a few fireworks, with Nigeria Today reporting, “South Africa constantly exists on a knife edge, just one Penny Sparrow-like Facebook post away from another wave of social media bickering…”

I wonder how @BellPottinger is going to spin the junk status downgrade for Zuma & Guptas? Blame WMC? The Easter Bunny?
— Max du Preez (@MaxduPreez) April 3, 2017

Click through to BizNews’ full overview of what they dub the ‘sultans of spin’ saga and The Citizen’s report on the full alleged 21-page leaked exposé to save the Guptas’ image.