They’re odd things sometimes, PR and reputation management. I’ve been doing it now for 13 years (ouch) and still find myself surprised, from time to time, about the way certain events pan out.

This is particularly the case when it comes to predicting what mass public reaction is going to be to specific incidents.

Whenever an organisation finds itself having PR issues, I’ll put myself in the position of their PR consultant, and wonder what I’d have done differently. What would I be telling them?

This week, the biggest news story has been the BBC, an organisation not unfamiliar with PR issues, and the way it has handled Jeremy Clarkson allegedly punching a producer over a plate of cold food.

The backdrop to the BBC’s decision lies on two fronts: Clarkson’s past behaviour, and the ongoing Jimmy Savile /Operation Yewtree scandal. Any presenter laying their hands on another employee in any way is going to be frowned upon. Thrown in some past instances of racism, and they clearly needed to take the hard line. It’s what I’d have told them to do.

Balanced against that is the multiple millions of pounds the corporation is expected to lose as a result of cancelling at least two Top Gear shows.

With all that in mind, and with brand protection as the primary consideration, I’d absolutely have recommended the BBC acted the way it did. Suspension while an investigation took place. It’s the same as would happen in any workplace, let alone one as currently sensitive as the BBC.

However, then, a prominent satire website, Guide Fawkes, put a rather large spanner in the works, by set up a petition to have Clarkson Reinstated. In my opinion, the presentation and wording of the petition clearly shows it was a joke.

But it has been a remarkable, mystifying success. The sort of success that makes you have serious doubts, not only about the future of the human race, but also about how easy it is to guess how issues will pan out.

Sometimes, you just have to throw out the rulebook, ignore common sense and everything you ‘know’, because, at the time of writing, 826,277 people have signed an ironically-set-up petition to reinstate Clarkson.

That’s nearly one million people on whom the irony was lost. Nearly one million people. Staggering. For context, that’s roughly how many votes Plaid Cymru, the SNP and the Green Party COMBINED attracted in the 2010 General Election.

More people signed this petition than have ever signed one in relation to protecting the NHS: I genuinely worry about what would happen if Clarkson ever stood for election.

It leaves the BBC with a real quandary. Listen to the petitioning (licence-paying) masses, and appear weak? Or stick to their guns and say goodbye to, by far, its biggest global brand/cash cow?

It’s a tough one. The answer probably lies in a compromise – return for a glorious season finale, which will see Clarkson having served his ‘time’ and which will probably result in record viewing figures for a series that has been edging towards mediocrity for some time.

As for reputation management, would my advice change with hindsight? Probably not, because acting correctly will always be the best way to protect a reputation, even if you’ve got a million internet users on your back.

For now, though, I’ll leave you with Snickers, which responded to the events in fantastic fashion. Good work!

snickers Back