Sorry to bring up the topic again now we’re a week post the Scottish independence referendum, but given that tomorrow night sees the start of the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, I thought it was timely to mention Andy Murray’s recent PR faux pas!
Now tennis champ Andy is a very proud Scot and has made no secret of the fact that when the England footie team plays, he cheers for the other side. So, it came as no real surprise that despite the fact that he couldn’t vote in the referendum as he lives in Surrey, he chose to tweet about his support for the ‘yes’ vote.
Someone once said that it takes years to build a reputation and just five minutes to ruin it, and it looks like this could be the case for Andy. Becoming Wimbledon’s first British champion since 1936 went a long way to boosting Andy’s popularity, as not only does he have a tendency to alienate with his anti-English stance, he’s also widely criticised for being a bit bland and boring. This was all forgiven until ‘that’ tweet!
And to take matters worse, it’s highly likely that his poor mother will be on the receiving end of those he offended. It’s widely anticipated that thanks to his tweet, Judy Murray will be the first to be kicked off the dance floor. Andy’s response to this allegation was that she probably didn’t stand a chance in the first place!
Andy is first and foremost a sportsman and is of course perfectly entitled to his own opinion, but the morale of this story for anyone looking after their own or their companies PR is think twice before voicing your opinion on a social media platform! It’s ok to have an opinion, it’s not always wise to air it!
Fiona Whyatt has worked in B2B PR for many years. She love blogging!
