Uber has been embroiled in controversy and sending out mixed messages. In a recent write-up of the situation by Diana Bradley, Peter Himler talked about the company’s problems.
Michael’s remarks, along with Kutcher and Calacanis’ actions, show that Uber has no control over its external messaging, Flatiron Communications’ founding principal Peter Himler told PRWeek.
He explained that the main issue lies in the fact that the comms function at Uber tends to be decentralized.
“When Uber hired former Obama for America campaign manager David Plouffe [in August] to oversee global communications and policy, I thought he would galvanize and centralize the company’s messaging,” Himler said. “But it is obvious they still don’t have control over their comms and they seem to be lacking the rigor that most public companies have.”
Because Kutcher was allowed the freedom to air his stance on Uber’s situation on social media, he might have hindered the company’s efforts to make the story disappear by giving the crisis more legs and another day in the news cycle.
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“In the end, it is probably the fault of the CEO for not laying down the law on who can speak on behalf of the company,” said Himler. “At some point investors are going to weigh in and the board is going to remove the CEO if this kind of behavior continues.”