The famous quote by P.T. Barnum that ‘any publicity is good publicity’ would probably be strongly contested by the following companies, who prove how costly public relations blunders can be to your both your reputation and your brand.

From failed product launches, poor crisis management and damaging comments, here are just a few of my favourite PR slip-ups.

Heathrow launch is Terminal

216 flights cancelled and 15,000 bags delayed – not exactly the grand opening BA had planned for the launch of Terminal 5 in 2008.

The £4.3billion project, which had promised to bring an end to airport frustration and the beginning of a new era of ‘simple and calm’ travel, was blighted on the first day with a series of blunders.

Delayed fights, long waits for baggage and a lack of basic facilities were not well received by passengers, prompting the airline’s CEO Willie Walsh to publicly apologise, confessing that it was “definitely not British Airways’ finest hour”.

BP slips up

There was nothing slick about the handling of the oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, not least helped by the actions of BP chief exec, Tony Hayward.

In the wake of the world’s worst oil-related environmental disaster, Hayward made a series of PR gaffes, including the now infamous ‘I want my life back’ comment, earning him the reputation of the ‘most hated man in America’.

He later admitted that if he had an acting degree from ‘Rada rather than a degree in geology I may have done better’ in handling the fallout.

Hoodie howler

Brand Director for Topman, David Shepherd dropped the ball in an interview with Menswear magazine in 2001 when he was asked who the clothing brand’s target market was.

Shepherd, replied: “Hooligans or whatever.”

He went on: “Very few of our customers have to wear suits for work. They’ll be for his first interview or first court case.”

It was later suggested by the company that the term “hooligan” would not be seen as an insult by its customers.

Nestlé social media meltdown

Confectionary-giant Nestlé is no stranger to bad press. But last year when Greenpeace openly criticised its actions in the social media sphere, the company made a series of errors in an effort to redeem its reputation.

Greenpeace created a parody video on YouTube which likened the eating of a KitKat with killing an Orangutan, in reference to Nestlé’s dealings with an Indonesian company who’s production of palm oil for Nestlé was threatening endangered species, including the Orangutan, though deforestation.

Nestlé responded by claiming copyright infringement and requested that YouTube take down the video, prompting angry protests from Greenpeace employees who took to Twitter and Nestlé’s Facebook page to post damaging comments.

Rather than respond to these negative remarks, Nestlé made the second mistake of deleting these criticisms completely, which, rather than diffuse the situation, encouraged Greenpeace supporters to post more negative comments on the page.

All this prompted several marketing experts to question whether Nestlé should abandon its social media presence altogether. Ian Schafer, CEO of digital-marketing firm Deep Focus, said: “The damage has been so done, it might not be a bad idea to shut down the page and start over. It is tough to turn that negativity around.”

Bling-tastic blunder

So famous that the term ‘doing a Ratner’ is commonly used to describe someone making a gaffe.

The business mogul made the classic and costly blunder during a speech to the Institute of Directors in 1991, when he claimed that his jewellery empire, Ratner Group “sold a pair of earrings for under a pound, which is cheaper than a prawn sandwich from Marks & Spencer, but probably wouldn’t last as long”.

The mistake not only wiped £500million from the value of his business but also cost Ratner his job at the company, which later re-branded as Signet.

Lessons learned

The trick here is to remember your audience at all times. What might have been intended as an innocent, off the cuff remark can end up costing you your reputation and damage your brand forever.

The introduction of social media means that any errors of judgement can now reach a much bigger audience with the ability to pass comment when things go wrong.

Ignoring the problem is not going to make it go away. Silence speaks volumes and just because you’re not commenting on the situation, doesn’t mean that others aren’t. Effective damage limitation in the aftermath of a public blunder is crucial to ensuring you deal with the issue effectively.

It is important to maintain dialogue with your audience. Be transparent, acknowledge their criticisms and deal with them in a sensitive way.