For years, Elon Musk was seen as an eccentric and entertaining but brilliant innovator who was disrupting industries, challenging the status quo and changing the world.
But that all changed in October when the Tesla founder and [formerly] world’s richest man snapped up Twitter for a cool $US44 billion ($A61 billion).
The weeks since have been marred by endless chaos and controversy, sparking an exodus of both users and advertisers, mass firings and resignations and prompting real concerns the platform’s days could be numbered.
Public relations expert Nicole Reaney told news.com.au that Mr Musk’s Twitter purchase was a “left-field move” – and that the mayhem threatened to destroy his legacy.
“Since then he has carved out a completely new image – transitioning from a dynamic tech leader to an archaic dictatorial style,” she said.
“He has fired or accepted resignations from about two-thirds of the workforce and set ultimatums to employees on his high intensity expectations – it’s like an episode of Celebrity Apprentice.
“As a hardcore proponent of free speech, he touted bringing banned users ‘back to line’ but this has backfired, most notably with Kanye West.”
Ms Reaney said Mr Musk’s erratic behaviour had damaged his credibility and that it was unclear whether the site could survive his tumultuous, short reign.
“Elon has been active on Twitter much to the amusement of account holders and media alike – even continuing the online banter to Kanye’s taunts,” she continued.
“The restoration of Trump’s account has led to advertisers fleeing. The stakes are high and all eyes are watching in anticipation to see if he can turn the struggling social platform around.”
But the Musk/Twitter circus isn’t the only scandal to make headlines in 2022, with plenty of PR fails raising eyebrows over the last 12 months.
Mr Musk, who was the world’s richest person for a long period, recently slipped to position two on the global rich list after Tesla’s stock price plunged.
Australia’s Covid debacle
Ms Reaney said NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s “let it rip” approach and former PM Scott Morrison’s backflipping on the cost of RATs were among to top PR fails of the year.
“We went from extreme restrictions, guidelines, rules and daily pressers to almost abandoning the public just as new and highly contagious variants were entering the community,” she explained.
“There was a real lack of communication around what to expect and what the average person could face. Businesses were not armed with the impact isolation and illness would have on their operations, causing further disruption to what they already experienced in prior years.
“What saved the Government’s lack of communication was bizarrely the emergence of the ‘Covid-selfie’ led by celebrities and influencers – giving the public that insight into what Covid was like first-hand. They couldn’t have asked for a better publicity awareness campaign.”
Meanwhile, she said putting healthcare management “completely in the hands of Australians was not a good move”.
“RATs needed to be accessible for all Australians – there was price gouging with some kits completely out of reach for our most vulnerable including the elderly,” she said.
“The backflip on support couldn’t have come sooner.”
ScoMo’s secret ministries
Speaking of the former PM, it has been a shocker of a year for Mr Morrison, after it emerged he had secretly appointed himself joint minister in the health, finance, treasury, home affairs, and industry, science, energy and resources portfolios over a period of two years during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In November, a scathing report into the scandal found Mr Morrison’s self-appointments were ultimately unnecessary and their secret nature was “corrosive of trust” in government, which Ms Reaney agreed with.
“The nature of this decision causes people to question trust and ethics. Being upfront, communicating and being transparent whenever there could be a potential conflict is of upmost importance when you are a leadership figure and certainly in the public arena,” she sad.
“He may have genuinely had the best intentions, but he let himself down by omitting these held powers from colleagues and the wider community.”
Philip Lowe’s interest rate fiasco
It hasn’t been a good year for RBA boss Philip Lowe, who is facing significant backlash after repeatedly insisting interest rates wouldn’t rise until 2024 at the earliest – only to announce eight consecutive hikes this year.
Then, in November, he delivered a stunning “apology”, claiming it was “regrettable” that Australians “listened to what we said”.
“When the announcement was made back in 2020 that rates would not rise, something like 300,000 Australians took out loans six or more times their incomes. Consumers made big personal decisions that affect their livelihood based on the information they received from the RBA,” Ms Reaney said.
“This is also coming off the back of very disruptive and uncertain times with the pandemic – consumers were counting on this assurance.
“This has a detrimental impact to Philip Lowe’s reputation. His apology only skimmed the surface in that it didn’t equate to the bearing these rises are having on the public. It didn’t offer any sincere empathy or even any avenues those in financial distress can explore. It just presented the error and left people to solely navigate their own financial futures.”
The Harry and Meghan show
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have dominated headlines all year, most recently after the airing of their hotly-anticipated Netflix docuseries, which was widely panned.
“The couple continue to harm their own image. They announced their move away from royal duties due to an aversion to media and public profile, yet they continue to drive a publicity agenda and seek media deals. They effectively breach their own privacy demands,” Ms Reaney said.
“Their timing is consistently tone deaf, from the ‘tell-all’ Hollywood-style Oprah interview last year coinciding with the passing of Prince Phillip to their incessant series of media activities at a time when the world reflects on the strength and character of Queen Elizabeth.
“The trailer to their upcoming docuseries attracted 400,000 dislikes and 22,000 likes upon its initial release. Sometimes silence is your strongest communication tactic and one that would have protected their image.”
Brutal cyber attacks
Millions of Aussies had their personal details this year as a result of Optus and Medibank’s cyber hacks.
Ms Reaney said both companies should have done more to protect customers and communicate with them.
“The main issue stemmed from customers hearing about the data leak of their personal information from media rather than being informed by Optus upfront,” she said of the telco’s breach.
“There was a delay to the communication and even then, what was received was a vague instruction. People were really unsure of what the impact was and the steps they needed to take, and the result was people taking it in their own hands – renewing licenses and more.
“For Medibank, it’s been reported that 480,000 customers have had their private health data stolen. The concern here is the sheer privacy of the nature of the information held – information that people would not divulge to even their closest family. When corporations hold such personal information, they have the responsibility to honour that privacy.”
No-vax Djokovic’s Australian Open storm
Novak Djokovic arrived in Melbourne in early January but was deported ahead of the Australian Open after the Federal Court upheld Immigration Minister Alex Hawke’s decision to cancel his visa.
The unvaccinated star and Tennis Australia believed the Serbian was eligible for a medical exemption to enter the country and compete, because he had been infected with Covid-19 in December.
A furious backlash erupted when news of Mr Djokovic’s exemption was made public via an Instagram post and he was detained at Tullamarine Airport upon arrival, then subsequently spent time in hotel detention as his final legal challenge to stay in Australia fell through – a situation Ms Reaney described as “an embarrassing volley of conflicting powers”.
“Djokovic was never silent about his vax stance, so the right measures should have taken place way ahead of his landing,” she said.
“The treatment – from being held to being deported and the back and forth on decisions between immigration minister and the court was so unnecessary.
“It resulted in world headlines bashing us and did not positioning our hospitality to visitors well at all. Of course, all this was just ahead of the Tourism Australia’s campaign, Come and Say G’day.”