• MSNBC, Detroit Free Press, Friday, May 21, 2010 10:34 AM

Allison Linn points out that Toyota and BP had both built up eco-friendly reputations in industries that are not conducive to claims of being green. But when disaster stuck, whatever goodwill they'd built up with consumers was squandered when they dragged their feet, some experts say, in dispensing information, apologizing and explaining how they were going to fix their respective problems.

"I always say to a client, 'Fess up before you're forced to, because as soon as you're forced to, it's all over,'" says Richard Laermer, founder of RLM PR. Linn evenhandedly reconstructs each company's reactions and writes that it can be a "near-impossible challenge for a company to respond quickly or aggressively" in an environment where "cable and Internet outlets publicize each incremental development instantaneously."

The Detroit Free Press' Justin Hyde reports that Democratic lawmakers accused Toyota yesterday of misleading the public about its probes into sudden acceleration. "Toyota has repeatedly told the public that it has conducted extensive testing of its vehicles for electronic defects," U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman charged. "We can find no basis for these assertions. Toyota's assertions may be good public relations, but they don't appear to be true."

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