Toyota's PR Plans Made Public

The Washington Post reports that Toyota was in the process of building a PR plan to discredit witnesses testifying against the embattled auto maker. From the Post:

Toyota officials sought to develop a public relations campaign to attack the credibility of key witnesses who have testified before Congress about acceleration problems with the company's cars, according to documents provided to the House committee investigating the automaker.

The effort was based in part on polling conducted for Toyota by Joel Benenson, President Obama's chief pollster. His poll questioned the integrity of the witnesses: Sean Kane, a Massachusetts safety consultant, and David Gilbert, an auto technology professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Congressional investigators have demanded to know from company officials whether a campaign to debunk or discredit their witnesses was put into action.

The company says it never produced advertisements based on the polling. Still, plans for the campaign have drawn the ire of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which, upon learning of them, told the automaker to hand over all related documents.

Public relations is dual in its nature, for it is both proactive and reactive. Toyota decided that enough time had been spent on the defense and was hoping to spur some offense. While it would be unwise to condemn Toyota for a PR plan they did not ultimately create, conducting polling on negative messaging about vocal critics was an unwise move.

In a crisis like Toyota is facing, a company's best PR move is to remain transparent and honest. Honesty is not smearing witnesses' names and reputations. Honesty is not conducting polling on negative messages that contain misleading statements or half-truths. Thus, while Toyota tried to go on the offensive, it will once again find its PR department on the defensive.