With sadness, this is my last ever good and bad PR round-up as I disappear from 10 Yetis to pursue a whole other career in a classroom! Thanks for reading my ramblings every so often… here’s my final look at what’s good and bad in the headlines today…

Good PR

Talking Korean

Korean language schools and courses are enjoying a surge in popularity following the uptake in awareness of K-Pop, Korean pop music, that is hitting the headlines. The genre is becoming a real undercover music phenomenon here in the UK, with reports of nightclubs hosting K-Pop nights to cater to this new and growing fandom. Now, a report by the Modern Language Association has shown an increase of 14% in Korean language classes in US universities, with many stating that they are so busy they have waiting lists of students keen to learn but unable to be accommodated.

Wedding fever

The royal wedding, alongside this lovely heat wave we’re still currently enjoying, is being credited for the 0.3% growth in the British economy during the month of May. This positive news about the economy is a pleasant snippet alongside the cabinet and Brexit doom and gloom which seems to fill 80% of the headlines at the moment.

Bad PR

Facebook again

Facebook is up against it as always, with further news updates around the breach of data use as it failed to ensure other companies had deleted users’ data. As people become increasingly wary about data and privacy, Facebook has now been served with a £500,000 fine – pretty small fry really for a company the size of Facebook, but it makes for a reminder and a few bad headlines nonetheless.

Pay-Pal #fail

PayPal is another big well-known brand, and widely used service, that has disappointed its customers with a pretty shocking ethical failing. The company issued a letter to a widow follow the passing of his wife to cancer to state that her death is in breach of its rules and he needed to repay the money owed or it would take him to court. After flagging this up to the media, the company has backtracked substantially and cleared the debt whilst claiming to investigate, but it leads us to wonder whether they’d have done the same if it was just a voice on the phone to their call centre rather than a wave of media attention. Sad times, PayPal.

Written by Leanne Bryan, 10 Yetis.
Seen any good or bad PR lately? You know what to do @10Yetis on Twitter or andy@10Yetis.co.uk on email