Some background information: On Feb. 8, 2009, Chris Brown had turned himself in to the LAPD and was taken to jail on felony criminal threats charges. He posted bail at $50,000. Rihanna (Robin Fenty) was the victim in the alleged assault. Article from People Magazine that gives more information.
Chris Brown's official apology- this was posted on his official website, myspace page, and youtube channel in late July 2009, five months after the incident.
FIVE MONTHS?!?!? Clearly our class speaker's "Golden Hour" has come and gone approximately 3,600 times. Chris Brown says he was legally advised not to come out with an apology before his sentencing, but from a PR perspective, he should have ignored that little tidbit of counseling.
Speaking of legal counseling, Brown's choice of lawyer does not seem very logical. He hired attorney Mark Geragos, who is known for defending convicted murderer Scott Peterson (remember the Laci Peterson/Chandra Levi cases). He also defended Winona Ryer after a 2001 shoplifting arrest, and Michael Jackson during his child molestation trial. Personally, I do not know anything about this lawyer other than the facts above, but from a PR standpoint, I don't know that you would want your defense to be the same as that of icons people regard as strange or unfavorable? Not to mention his client, Scott Peterson, is on death row.
Back to the apology, this is a video posted by DukePowell on youtube.com showing what he thinks Brown's apology should roughly consist of. He makes some excellent points. For one thing, if you are going to apologize for something that EVERYONE knows about, it might be better to acknowledge what you actually did. Unlike the Jet Blue situation would would have involved the need to state what happened to hundreds of people, Chris Brown did not need to go into full or even slight detail. But he could have acknowledged the simple assault charge. He is clearly reading off of cards, like this spoof shows, which affects his tone. The result is that the viewer is not inclined to believe that Brown himself believes his own words. They seem empty and his tone seems false.
This video shows how Brown faced consequences other than six month of community service. His ad campaign for Double Mint Gum was postponed in light of his actions. What could have been a plus for his PR was shut down, and his image is now in a negative light.
So, it seems to me that Brown is trying to protect and build back his image, an obvious PR goal. But, THAT is not what the public wants to see; they want someone who is truly sorry for their actions, and they most certainly DON'T want to look up to an abusive 19-year-old. He has to take that side of his image away, and through his current tactics, it doesn't seem that he's doing a very good job.
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