In The News This Week – Apple and Pete Evans…are we surprised?

This Tuesday was International Women’s Day, a time to reflect on the progress society has made, call for further change and truly celebrate the bravery and courage of women across the globe.

While brands like Mamamia showcased incredibly thought out acts to celebrate, some women were shocked upon waking as their Apple Watch sent a message stating “International Women’s Day Challenge. March 8 is a day to celebrate women around the world! Earn this award by doing any workout for 20 minutes or more”.

Clearly a light hearted attempt at getting involved, for many it sent the wrong message, seeming to reinforce a dated view that women need to be thin to be considered beautiful. One woman rebutted saying, “I cackled when I saw this this morning. I think I’m going to celebrate #IWD2022 by sitting on my ass and not doing anything for anyone but myself!” 

From a PR perspective, I can see their attempt to get involved in an important date and inspire women to get moving (a core feature of the Apple Watch being daily/hourly reminders to move etc.), however they could have simply sent out an inspirational quote or praised an athlete achieving great things and had that same effect.

No stranger to controversy, former Kitchen Rules host Pete Evans yet again made headlines claiming the Covid vaccine was the cause for Shane Warne’s untimely passing.

Cricket legend Shane Warne’s sudden passing sent waves of grief across the world. During this highly emotional time for all, Evans capitalised on the opportunity to enforce his anti-vax views via a zoom meeting (after allegedly having been banned from Instagram and Spotify). He claimed, “so many doctors I’ve interviewed have been screaming for the last year-and-a-half, saying the vaccines are going to cause death like we’ve never seen across the planet”, leading to an immense amount of backlash from the public. The comments were labeled as a display of ‘slimy opportunism’ and ultimately deemed disrespectful for friends and family who are deeply mourning their loved one.

I can’t imagine Pete Evans is taking any PR advice, but it seems he doesn’t have much of a reputation left to uphold. If I could give him any tips…I would advise him to step back and evaluate if this is the best way to have your opinion heard and taken seriously.

By Grace Drummond – PR & Influencer Coordinator at InsideOut PR and #AsSeenOn