In The
Public Eye Preventing And Handling
Negative Publicity BY ERICA SHATZER
P.T. Barnum, co-founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, may have believed that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity,” but companies like Anheuser-Busch (producer of Bud Light), Target, and Hershey’s Canada, all of which have been dealing with backlash from transgender promotions via “anti-woke” boycotts and protests, would likely disagree.
T
heir transgender affiliations and pride- related products have led to significant
decreases in sales, with conservative consumers ditching the longstanding brands for businesses that better align with their more traditional values, includ- ing Jeremy’s Chocolate, a new division of skincare company Jeremy’s Razors that was specifically developed to give people “nut” or “nutless” candy bar choices after Hershey’s Canada featured a transgender person in commercials and on choco- late bar wrappers that were intended to celebrate women. Target has since pulled some of the LGBTQ+ and Satanic merchandise from its clothing depart- ments, but that has merely angered some members of the communities the company was originally supporting. As for beer, sales have been frothy for Miller Lite and Coors Light—a direct result of the suds snub that brewed after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney promoted Bud Light and its commemorative can on Instagram.
Although many self-storage
brands are not household names, and therefore less likely to incite media attention on a national level, they are not immune to negative publicity. For instance, U-Haul unfortunately made the news in May when one of its rental trucks was purposely driven into barriers near the White House. A far cry from the moving-related fender benders that typically occur, there’s no way the U-Haul rental agent(s) could have predicted that 19-year-old renter and Nazi supporter Sai Varshith Kandula would attempt to overthrow the government and “end democracy” while behind the wheel.
Similarly, it’s nearly impossible to
anticipate incidents at self-storage facilities that could generate negative publicity, such as break-ins, fires, pest infestations, prostitution, counter- feiting rings, drug-related activities, murders, the storage of stolen goods, homeless tenants, and more. However, there are tried-and-true ways to hope- fully prevent them from happening and
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MiniStorageMessenger.com
defuse situations when they do rear their ugly heads.
Be Proactive Before any incident occurs, it’s impera- tive to ensure that your facility is properly prepared and protected. For starters, every property should have a thorough, well-written rental agreement in place to outline the responsibilities of the owner(s) and tenants. The rental agree- ment should include a comprehensive list of items that are prohibited from storage, including flammable liquids, explosives and combustibles, illicit drugs, hazardous materials, weapons and ammunition, perishable foods, illegal and stolen goods, living or dead items (plants, animals, people), unregistered or uninsured vehicles, and wet items (for mold/mildew prevention). This list should be reviewed with each tenant and signed to signify that they agree not to store the banned items. Any reluctance to sign the prohibited items list or disclose what they plan to store within the unit could be a red flag. During the rental process, some operators also require tenants to provide
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