“Publish and be damned!”
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, when courtesan Harriette Wilson threatened to publish her memoirs and his letters
Yes, it’s funny that Bank of America bought up more than 400 “derog” (to put it in credit scoring terms) domain names. And yes, it’s funnier that they can’t get them all, like this one or “BrianTMoynihanWetsTheBed.com.” Like the proverbial broken clock that’s right twice a day, even Henry Blodget (who probably belongs in jail, not influencing investors ) rightfully heaps abuse upon the hapless guardians of Bank of America’s ‘reputation.’
But it’s also sad, too, that Bank of America executives, who in any case seem to be running a single-minded bad publicity campaign (taking this person’s bird and the ashes of this one’s husband), are quaking in their non-Wellington boots at the threat of a WikiLeaks document dump.
We know what the Duke of Wellington would have said to this third-rate Die Hard villain (if he didn’t challenge Julian Assange to a duel first). Bank of America clearly doesn’t believe in the success of its own campaign to win back the hearts, minds and wallets of American consumers.
Otherwise, they would have told Assange “Publish and be damned.”
Tags: bad-PR, bad-publicity-campaigns, Bank-of-America, Julian-Assange, WikiLeaks
