• Ad Age, MSNBC, Wednesday, March 18, 2009 10:45 AM

As Edward M. Liddy, American International Group's chairman and CEO, appears on Capitol Hill today to take the heat for millions of dollars' worth of bonuses doled out to employees, public relations pros are shaking their heads at the company's blundering crisis management in a business that's built on trust.

Eric Dezenhall, CEO and co-founder of Dezenhall Resources, a communications consultancy, tells Ad Age's Michael Bush that most consumers are not going to be able to see past the bonus issue, let alone want to listen to the company's reasoning for handing them out. "Contrary to what my compadres in the crisis sector will preach, an ad campaign featuring little girls with flowers and talking about how much AIG cares about the consumers is a complete waste of money," he says.

But Torod Neptune, senior vp-global public affairs at Waggener Edstrom, says its research shows that consumers are looking to hear from financial-services institutions and "this is something AIG needs to be getting in front of pretty aggressively." Neptune says that 44% of 1,000 consumers Waggener Edstrom polled say they've heard something from financial-service institutions but felt more negative about the industry afterward; 38% say they heard nothing at all; and 11% say they feel better about the industry after hearing from it.

Which does beg the "why bother?" question, does it not ?

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