In July 2003, a Las Vegas TV station reported that a local entrepreneur had created a bizarre "attraction," with accompanying for-sale videotape, both dubbed "Hunting for Bambi."

According to the businessman, his patrons paid for the right to shoot paintball guns at naked and unprotected women attempting to be moving targets. Broadcast and print media outlets nationwide, and even some overseas, quickly picked up the TV station's coverage.

On the surface, this may seem like merely another example of blatant exploitation -- of the women involved, and of patrons with obviously aberrant preferences. The lawyers at Disney probably felt exploited as well. But it actually was merely the worst of what has become a common media activity -- reporting on the negative side of the paintball business at a ratio of at least 100-1 versus positive coverage.

Some leading figures in the paintball industry recognized that such coverage, combined with frequent reporting on "drive by"
shootings and vandalism committed with paintball equipment, could only result in:

• More misunderstanding about paintball play and safety
• Association of paintball with criminal and/or aberrant behavior.

There was a need to take a stand on behalf of the industry that, sadly, has repeatedly failed to maintain more than one attempt to operate a formal industry association. Without such an association being engaged in proactive public relations, negative coverage usually goes unremarked and often contains significant inaccuracy about the sport and its safety practices.

Brass Eagle, the nation's largest paintball manufacturer, wasn't going to let this story go by without speaking up. It was clear
that the story "had legs" and was going to receive additional and wide-ranging coverage. The manufacturer quickly issued a national press release that read, in part:

"We condemn this irresponsible activity and do not endorse or condone the use of paintball products for such activities," said Company President & CEO, Lynn Scott.

Brass Eagle Inc. will ask local city and county officials in Las Vegas to look into this matter, as the health and welfare of the women participants could be damaged or threatened by this undertaking.
The company and its distributors are especially concerned about:

1) Purposely shooting at persons who are not wearing a paintball mask, which could result in serious eye injury, including blindness.

2) Purposely shooting at persons not wearing clothing, which provides some protection from the impact of a paintball. Playing paintball nude may result in significant bodily injury.

Brass Eagle Inc. promotes the recreational sport of paintball, which is a safe and fun activity when the proper safety rules and regulations are followed.

That release also received widespread coverage and its key messages were included in many of the follow-up stories. Nevada officials launched an immediate investigation that is still ongoing as of this article's publication date. The "Hunting for
Bambi" businessman later claimed that the attraction was a hoax, that the "hunts" were staged for the video camera. That didn't, in fact, really change any of the paintball industry reputation damage caused by promoting the activity and the video. I'm not exactly concerned about the reputation damage the businessperson caused to himself!

Lessons for Crisis Managers:

• Proactive PR and community relations when crises aren't occurring creates a cushion of goodwill that will help soften the impact of bad news when it happens. This is true for an industry or an individual organization.
• Taking a leadership position, as Brass Eagle did in the absence of official paintball industry leadership, is an effective crisis/issues management tactic. The entire industry benefited from the very low-cost response made by the manufacturer.
• Every industry has its "bad apples" whose activities need to be monitored and mitigated by official representatives for that industry, to make it clear that the behavior of "bad apples" doesn't represent the industry as a whole.
• Industry leaders who decide that marketing individual products is more important than industry reputation management are, in fact, undermining the potential size and scope of their market. They are allowing permanent reputation damage to take place. In this case, the paintball industry's sales often depend on the goodwill of parents, whose children comprise the vast majority of new players.

Parents do not respond well to the ongoing negative coverage paintball receives. That's not speculation on my part. I'm also, "on the side," a paintball player and frequently published writer. The two most common letters I receive from young readers are (a) pleas for me to help them convince their parents to let them play despite negative press and (b) profuse thank you's for the "parent to parent" articles I've written attempting to provide a reasonable and balanced perspective on the sport.

Will the paintball industry learn from the "Hunting for Bambi" episode? Better yet, will YOUR industry learn from it?

Bernstein Crisis Management LLC is a national consultancy providing 24/7 access to its president, Jonathan Bernstein, and a network of carefully screened, highly experienced crisis management experts who are on call nationwide. Bernstein Crisis Management engages in the full spectrum of crisis management services: crisis prevention, response, planning, training and simulations. www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com