The Art of the Apology

Recently, more and more cases of Sexual Misconduct have been popping up all over the news. Many beloved celebrities and well known individuals have been accused of Sexual Harassment or Assault. First and foremost, these horrific acts cause so much pain and stress for those who have been victimized and at the same time it severely damages the reputation of the accused as well. One person who has recently been accused is world famous chef, Mario Batali. After the allegations, Batali was fired from the daytime TV show, The Chew, which he has co-hosted since 2011.

Mario Batali

The obvious next step for the accused is to do whatever they can to restore their image and try to rebuild the trust back in their followers. A PR Specialist can be very effective in planning out the right course of action remedy the issue and move forward. Sometimes the best course of action is to admit your mistakes, show compassion for those that were affected and show how you are going to do things differently moving forward. Batali almost got that right, but the last line of his apology letter made everything worse.

According to CNN, Batali used an online newsletter to acknowledge "many mistakes" and apologize for disappointing "my friends, my family, my fans and my team." But what has people talking is the conclusion of the message, which read: "ps. in case you're searching for a holiday-inspired breakfast, these Pizza Dough Cinnamon Rolls are a fan favorite." The postscript included a picture of the referenced sweet treats, along with a link to the recipe. This last line proved to be extremely insensitive and made it seem like he wasn't taking the allegations seriously.

An effective PR Specialist should know that this was not the best way to handle this apology. One of the key traits of an apology is sincerity, but all it took was one line to show that Batali was not so sincere in his attempt to empathize with others. Hopefully, Batali can understand that he must lean on someone with good PR experience to help guide him through this issue and restore his image with the public.