Good PR

McDonald’s

It might not be the first place you think about heading to for food in the new year when everyone typically tries to focus on healthy eating and fitness, but McDonald’s announcing that it will be introducing its first-ever fully vegan meal on 2 January will have a lot of people seriously excited come 2020.

The meal will consist of veggie dippers, made with a red pepper, rice, sundried tomato pesto and split pea mix, alongside French fries and a drink, and will set you back just £4.99. The meal has full approval from The Vegan Society, meaning that all ingredients have been prepared in a way that prevented contamination with any dairy products.

According to the bigwigs at McDonald’s, the fast-food chain has witnessed an 80% uplift in customers ordering vegetarian options in the past 12 months, so there is no doubting this will increase its popularity amongst those with specific dietary requirements even further.

St John Properties

Any bosses out there that might be reading this… you’re going to need to do better when it comes to letting your staff know you appreciate them this festive season.

One company founder in Baltimore, Maryland announced to his 198 members of staff that he would be giving away $10m (£7m), with the average employee receiving a pretty incredible and life-changing £40,000 festive bonus – TALK ABOUT A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The property entrepreneur decided to offer his hard workers the phenomenally generous gift after hitting their target of developing 20 million square feet of office, retail and warehouse space across the US. If that’s not an incentive to do even better at your job for 2020, then I really don’t know what is!

Nike

After previously launching the Nike Pro Hijab, the sports brand has now revealed it will be unveiling a Victory Swim Collection aimed at those looking for a more modest range of swimwear.

Launching in February, the collection will feature a different Hijab, a swim tunic top and swim leggings. Designers from Nike have said they saw a gap in the clothing for water sports, and in particular for female athletes looking for items that cover up their bodies more than traditional garments.

Bad PR

Phillip Schofield

It’s not been the best week for TV legend presenter Philip Schofield, after a few separate stories reported in the seem to have been dragging his name through the mud and tarnishing his previously untouchable reputation.

Firstly, Schofe and his This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby were heavily criticised on social media for giving prime minister Boris Johnson a much easier interview when he appeared live in the studio, than they did with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. It was also repeatedly mentioned that Boris was asked for a selfie with the daytime duo, whilst Corbyn was snubbed, something which Phillip took to his own Twitter to defend:

Secondly, despite viewers assuming that everyone working on This Morning gets on like a house on fire, some rumours have begun circulating that all is not well between Phillip and Ruth Langsford, presenter of Loose Women and the Friday host of This Morning alongside husband Eamonn Holmes.

It was first rumoured that the husband and wife couple may have an issue with Phil when they were notably absent from the This Morning staff Christmas party last week. Following this, many press articles have tried to add fuel to the rumoured rift, with a video of Ruth being interrupted and rudely cut off by Phil during a live link to Loose Women making the rounds on social media. Many have also come out to state that Schofield is absolutely desperate to receive a knighthood from the Queen, and is hugely jealous that Eamonn Holmes was awarded an OBE for his services to broadcasting back in 2018.

Whilst ITV have been quick to call the allegations ‘malicious gossip’, one can’t help but wonder how Phil might attempt to bounce back from this bad bout of negativity.

Walmart

The Canadian division of Walmart must surely be regretting its decision to release a festive jumper that portrays Father Christmas snorting cocaine.

That’s right. You did read that right. Santa doing coke. On a Christmas jumper.

There’s no denying what the jumper is attempting to showcase. Santa is sat on a sofa with VERY dilated pupils, in front of three white lines on a table, and is also holding a straw in his hand. VERY NOT SUBTLE.

Spokespeople for the global company, which owns the Asda brand, were quick to issue an apology and remove the item online and all stores once people realised the badly judged jumper design. I just can’t help but wonder how it managed to get through to production in the first place!

Written by Lauren Wilden, head of PR at 10 Yetis. Seen any good or bad PR lately? You know what to do @10Yetis on Twitter or andy@10Yetis.co.uk on email