Free PR Advice For Ski Racer Sandy Vietze Post Pee
Oops.
If you have yet to read the international coverage of the 18 year old Vermont ski racer who is (was) a member of the US Developmental Ski Team, then this post won’t make a lot of sense until you do. It hurts to read. Clearly a no win situation for the 11 year old girl, the 18 year old youth or any of the families. I do not need to recap what occurred. There are thousands of media outlets covering that. I also do not mean to condone the actions, but they deserve another look from a public relations standpoint.
Right now, the skier is being painted as an unapologetic affluent without a shade of remorse who cares little about where and upon whom he urinates. And sure, there might be lawyers advising against apologizing as it may convey guilt of some kind, but really this is about an 18 year old getting drunk and making a mistake. A mistake that while not pleasant to think about, did very little harm. We all get peed on once in a while by our dog, our baby, our grandparents, ourselves, it’s part of life.
Want to start to repair your image? Apologize. Now. You cannot repair anything until you apologize. The story will only get worse until you apologize. Delay is your enemy and it makes your hole deeper.
Here’s a simplified example:
“Boy did I mess up. I should not have drank. It’s illegal and stupid. It was a dumb way to try and sleep on the long flight. I should know better. I am deeply sorry to the passengers of that plane and especially sorry to anyone I may have relieved myself on. I cannot even believe I did it. But I did. Now I have to live with that. I hope that other teens will see my experience and learn about the dangers of alcohol. You don’t think straight and you also have to go pee. That’s a bad combination. I look forward to being a better person so that my life doesn’t have to be defined by a mistake I made at age 18. Thank you.”
After that (sincere) message gets out, which puts into perspective what we’re really all talking about, the skier, the media, the US Ski Team and all the passengers can start to move on and get over it. Until then, this story will continue to hurt everyone. Let’s move forward.
Good luck Sandy. This doesn’t need to define your future. Also… Smarten up.
