Can Susan G. Komen recover from Planned Parenthood funding fiasco?
What does it take to bounce back from one of the worst public relations disasters in foundation politics?
Crisis management experts say Susan G. Komen for the Cure has already taken the right first step to move on from the P.R. disaster that resulted from its decision to cut off grant funding to Planned Parenthood. It reversed its decision — and quickly, before the damage got even worse.
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But it’s going to take a lot more, they say, to win back the almost universal goodwill the organization had before it became embroiled in abortion politics. For a large portion of the group’s strongest supporters — women who support abortion rights — this was a fundamental betrayal.
“This is like catching your husband or fiancé in bed with the wrong woman,” said D.C.-based communications consultant Marina Ein.
Cleveland-based crisis communication consultant Bruce Hennes agreed with the analogy, and said that like any cheating spouse, Komen will need to go even further to demonstrate its fidelity to its supporters on the left after this lapse.
“Now that Komen reversed itself and begged forgiveness, I believe their base will surround them with love and dollars, but they won’t forget ... their spouse will be watched,” he said.
Komen’s allies aren’t limited to those who support abortion rights — it has also had strong appeal with anti-abortion women. But not many people knew that it funded Planned Parenthood until it decided to stop.
And once it did, it may have lost its ability to appeal to both sides. That may be the long-term price it will pay for stepping so publicly into the abortion fight when it didn’t have to get involved at all.
In fact, by seeming to take sides — even though it insisted its grant policy changes weren’t aimed at Planned Parenthood — its reversal may be setting off another backlash with the right.
Within hours of Komen’s announcement, anti-abortion groups lashed out at the reversal. “It would be heartbreaking for women who suffer from breast cancer if Planned Parenthood has bullied Komen into loosening their higher standards,” Jeanne Monahan of the Family Research Council said in a statement. “Komen should stay focused on saving lives, not supporting the nation’s largest abortion provider.”
Republican presidential candidates denounced the decision too. Newt Gingrich called Komen’s reversal “unfortunate,” while Rick Santorum said he was “very disappointed” because Komen “talks about saving lives, not about ending lives.”
But it was the firestorm of criticism from the left that touched off the disaster in the first place — and signaled that Komen may have lost its reputation as a safe, non-political charity with broad appeal to everyone.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72435.html#ixzz1lN7ECKoW
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