A personal branding no-no: How one exec’s ‘PR skills’ landed him in jail

When handling a crisis, the line between what’s right and wrong isn’t often blurred.

In the days that followed the deadly attacks in Belgium’s capital on Tuesday, much of the world was in shock.

London-based PR executive Matthew Doyle decided to channel his confusion into a confrontation:

Doyle’s action—and his shameless self-promotion of it online—infuriated Twitter users.

Here’s a small sampling of the response it received:

@MatthewDoyle31 @Gweskoyen Good thing you’re not claiming to be good at your job
.
Oh dear :(

— Steve Gill (@GreenOakSteve) March 23, 2016

@brianmoore666 @MatthewDoyle31 @Dubdanu @suzanneshine I confronted my chickens and asked them to explain bird flu. They clucked at me #moron

— Brian Murphy (@laoisman80) March 23, 2016

@MatthewDoyle31 You should apologise. Go and visit your local mosque, have some tea and get rid of all the hate you have inside you.

— Behar 萨德 (@BeharSadr) March 23, 2016

Instead of apologizing for his offensive remarks—as a sensible public relations professional would do in a crisis—Doyle stood his ground, calling it “PR” prowess:

Thanks all you tweeters for proving I can still do PR.
I really was thinking about throwing the towel (head) in !
Contact @KimberleyeLeo

— Matthew P Doyle (@MatthewDoyle31) March 23, 2016

Although at first he led users to believe his outlandish act was only a “PR stunt,” he later recanted that statement and continued his online rant against followers of Islam.

In PR, successful personal branding can be a difficult nut to crack—as it usually involves getting people to agree with your message. In Doyle’s mind, the backlash he received in thousands of angry tweets meant that he was flourishing.

In boasting that his tweet had gone viral, Doyle retweeted users’ responses and made himself available to press inquiries and interviews:

For all Television requests - please contact the beautiful Kimberley at Sky News - https://t.co/UiyC5j5sQp

— Matthew P Doyle (@MatthewDoyle31) March 23, 2016

His organization—Grant Doyle Associates—responded to the backlash in a fairly lewd (and not suitable for work) manner on Facebook. Instead of apologizing on Doyle’s behalf, the PR and talent agency’s remarks mirrored its partner’s previous statements.

The Guardian reported that Doyle was later arrested.

“The Metropolitan police confirmed that a 46-year-old man had been arrested on Wednesday evening in Croydon on suspicion of inciting racial hatred via social media,” the article stated.

Before his arrest, a reporter from Huffington Post UK interviewed Doyle:

When asked by The Huffington Post UK as to why he had chosen to approach the woman, Doyle explained that her Islamic headscarf justified approaching her.

He said: “She was wearing a flag. If I was walking down the street wearing a jacket emblazoned with a Union Jack then I would be open to some abuse.”

When asked if he approaches Jewish men wearing skullcaps to question them on the ongoing Israel/Palestine situation he exclaimed: “Absolutely not!”

As of Thursday afternoon, Doyle is still behind bars—thinking twice, perhaps, about how great a PR pro he really is.

[RELATED: Upgrade your crisis plan before disaster strikes: lessons from the Zika and Ebola outbreaks.]

What do you think, Raganreaders? How should Doyle and his agency have responded to the backlash against his viral tweet?

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