Gilbert Arenas (middle of the hurdle) was suspended for the rest of the 2009-10 NBA season without pay. (Source: Getty Image)
The publicists of Washington Wizards fell asleep and did not wake in time to prevent a disaster from happening. It is interesting to see how they clean up the mess starting from Gilbert Arenas’s apology letter on the Washington Post.
Gilbert Arenas, nicknamed “Agent Zero”, is an All-Star point guard of the Washington Wizards. He was suspended for the rest of the season without pay after he confessed in the court that he brought guns into an NBA facility. His deed was against the regulation of the NBA. What made this issue more controversial was his careless attitude towards this issue before the investigation begun.
Last month, Gilbert Arenas was reported to bring a gun into the stadium. According to Gilbert Arenas, he brought the gun with him to keep it away from his baby daughter. He soon handed it to a security guard. However, the team’s publicists might not remind him that he should keep a low profile. Gilbert Arenas talked the issue with frivolous attitude on his Twitter.. What’s worse? He even made fun of it by mocking a gunshot gesture during a game. Four of his teammates were fined because they were laughing along with him. Apparently, the communication between the team’s PR personnels and players was lacking. The whole team should have taken this incident seriously not jokingly.
After a few days, investigation revealed that Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton, one of his teammates, drew guns on each other in the locker room. All of a sudden, Gilbert Arenas worsened his public images by covering the truth and joking on his own scandal.
From the standpoint of public relations, Gilbert Arenas did not follow the proverb, “Honesty is the best policy.” He did not tell the truth in the first place. He did not show any introspection but made fun of his misdemeanor. The Washington Wizards signed a contract worth 100 million with Gilbert Arenas over six years. It is hard to believe they could not have come up with better PR efforts before things got out of control. They could not stop bad publicity from spreading out for nearly a month. Their image was further damaged again as TMZ posted Gilbert Arena’s mug shot on the website. Washington Bullets, the team’s previous name, was replaced to avoid association with violence and guns. Ironically, their poor PR efforts ruined their expensive investment on a franchise player and recalled fans of the old image they wanted to get rid of.
