{"id":18773,"date":"2011-03-02T08:44:35","date_gmt":"2011-03-02T16:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/?p=18773"},"modified":"2011-03-07T06:10:43","modified_gmt":"2011-03-07T14:10:43","slug":"pr-fail-max-clifford-gives-john-galliano-the-worst-damage-control-advice-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/style\/fashion\/pr-fail-max-clifford-gives-john-galliano-the-worst-damage-control-advice-ever","title":{"rendered":"PR Fail: Max Clifford Gives John Galliano the Worst Damage Control Advice Ever (Updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Update<\/strong>: John Galliano<\/strong> released a statement which wisely ignores Max Clifford’s incredibly stupid recommendations entirely.<\/p>\n It reads in part:<\/p>\n “However, I fully accept that the accusations made against me have greatly shocked and upset people.<\/p>\n I must take responsibility for the circumstances in which I found myself and for allowing myself to be seen to be behaving in the worst possible light.<\/p>\n I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s understanding and compassion. To start this process I am seeking help and all I can hope for in time is to address the personal failure which led to these circumstances and try and earn people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s forgiveness.<\/p>\n I have fought my entire life against prejudice, intolerance and discrimination, having been subjected to it myself. In all my work my inspiration has been to unite people of every race, creed, religion and sexuality by celebrating their cultural and ethnic diversity through fashion. That remains my guiding light.<\/p>\n Anti-semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologise for my behaviour in causing any offence.”<\/p>\n via Fashionista<\/a><\/p>\n We promise, unless John Galliano personally invites us over for a drink, this is one of the last things we’ll mention about this story, but Vogue UK rounded up<\/a> various quotes on Galliano and we happened upon this gem:<\/p>\n “I think Galliano needs to justify what he’s done,” Max Clifford, PR and damage-control expert, told\u00c2\u00a0WWD<\/em>. “He needs two or three Jewish friends to come forward and tell the public that he is not remotely anti-Semitic in all the years they have known him. Or he has to say it was meant to be a funny rant, or that he was just trying to annoy to the people sitting next to him.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n What?!<\/p>\n As we predicted, a number of statements are so enamored with Galliano’s skill that they separate it from his social failings<\/a>, but that particular piece of advice fails on so many levels that we can’t wonder how much Clifford was drinking before he offered it.<\/p>\n For starters, there are probably two things Galliano could offer to justify what appeared on that video<\/a>: an evil twin or multiple personality disorder, with one personality being kind, genius fashion designer and the other being drunk Nazi admirer. Since we haven’t heard either of those tossed out as possibilities, there really isn’t any justifying the level of stupidity Galliano demonstrated.<\/p>\n Though he can say crazy things of his own, Karl Lagerfeld actually sums it up pretty well in his statement to WWD:<\/p>\n “I’m furious that it could happen. Because the question is no longer even whether he really said it. The image has gone around the world. It’s a horrible image for fashion, because they think that every designer and everything in fashion is like this. This is what makes me crazy in that story.<\/p>\n The thing is, we are a business world where, especially today, with the internet, one has to be more careful than ever, especially if you are a publicly known person. You cannot go in the street and be drunk – there are things you cannot do.”<\/p>\n