The PR blunder of the day goes to Gregg Peers, who is a candidate for parliament with the ruling Conservative party in Great Britain. peers apparently thought it would be cute to dress up as Oscar Pistorius, complete with blazing guns and track uniforms and posted the photos on his own Facebook page.
Peers has now forced a spokesman from his own party to state the obvious: “This is unacceptable and in poor taste.”
Life may be unfair. If Peers were a low-level account in a small firm and did this, the reaction might be a few chuckles, a raised eyebrow or two, and then instantly forgotten. But as a candidate for public office that includes the power to make life and death decisions that affect tens of millions of people comes greater scrutiny. and that’s why people are justifiably uncomfortable seeing a politician taking murdering an innocent person lightly.
Here is a candidate that more people in public life need to ask themselves before posting photos on Facebook and dressing up for costume parties: “What percentage of people who don’t know me will think I am a jackass if they see me like this?”
and if the answer is more than 1%, it just isn’t worth the trouble. Dress up as a snowman instead.
TJ Walker is a media consultant. You can reach him at Media Training Worldwide 212.764.4955. https://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com