Paul Christoforo of Ocean Marketing singlehandedly destroyed
his reputation and career over the Christmas break and in such a way that the
whole world could watch. Christoforo was hired to do marketing and customer
service for the Avenger, a video game controller created to assist the
disabled. But Christoforo threw all standard ethical practices out the window
and did things his way, which turned out to be hilariously awful. Christoforo
wrote abusive emails to a customer who had legitimate concerns and complaints.
He wrote such things as, “you got told bitch,” and, “no one cares what you
think,” and proceeded to list a number of big-named companies he claimed to
have contact with and the tech and video game conventions he would be attending,
including PAX East. But in this day and age, all it takes is one little email.
The customer emailed the entire conversation to the man behind PAX East and the
popular website Penny Arcade, Mike Krahulik. Shocked by such poor treatment, Krahulik
assured that Christoforo would not be at his convention. Krahulik then published
all of the emails, including some between him and Christoforo, on his website. People
on the internet went nuts with anger. The companies Christoforo had claimed to
know came out on twitter saying otherwise. Later in the day, Ocean Marketing was fired by the Avenger
controller creator.
Christoforo is the reason PR has a bad reputation. But
with social media, it’s easier to keep the bad guys in check. Not only did his
actions wreck his career, but his lack of GSP knowledge made him look like an even
bigger idiot while doing it.
2 comments:
I think there is valuable lesson to be learned from Paul Christoforo's tasteless emails: treat everyone with respect, no matter how insignificant or blasphemous they seem (especially when using written communication.) It is important to be professional and courteous at all times, but it is even more important while on the internet because anybody (or everybody in this case) could be the audience. I always try to remember this when posting pictures or statuses on Facebook. Obviously Chistoforo didn't fathom that his rude remarks would be further perpetuated; however, they were, and his career was ruined with just one click of the send button.
I think this is a classic example of customer service gone wrong. All the mistakes he made in dealing with this company completely wiped out his chances of doing business with anyone in that related field. Good news travels, but bad news travels faster and he definitely left a sour taste in their mouth.
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