The Death of Shame: One Last Lesson from Ryan Lochte

By Felicia Knight

Shame is an old fashioned word, whose power nowadays is greater in private than in public. It’s far easier to shame a four-year-old for lying than it is an adult celebrity. And believe it or not, that makes the work of public relations professionals more difficult.

What to do with the unrepentant? Those who offer non-apology apologies? Those who don’t lie, but who “over-exaggerated”? Those public titans who say one thing and do another?

If one is guilty and caught red-handed, the best advice is always:

• Take responsibility

• Tell the whole truth all at once

• Take your punishment

• Work hard to regain trust

When the party in question refuses that route—which, we admit is the most difficult—what then? Do we stick to our guns and quit or stick around and do the wordsmithing? As we discussed last week, words matter, so do we try to be the person offering the best possible words or do we walk away? (Based on Lochte’s words, we’re hoping those are not the work of a PR professional.)

Lochte has lost all his endorsements, something that likely would have happened even if he’d immediately come clean about getting drunk and vandalizing the gas station restroom. That’s not exactly the elite Olympian ethic the sponsors are looking for.

In a matter of hours he went from Gold Medalist to solid gold punchline. But the bacchanal in Brazil wasn’t Lochte’s debut in late-night TV monologues. No, that came three years ago with his stunningly misguided foray into reality television called What Would Ryan Lochte Do?

At the time, we believed that the derisive, dismissive reviews would damage his reputation and possibly cost him endorsements. We also thought he might learn a lesson in reputation management, crisis management, and public relations.

Well, none of that happened. Yes, he was a laughing stock, but he didn’t seem to notice. If he did, he learned nothing from it. And so, here we are, another bone-headed move, and this time it cost him more than a million dollars, at least.

More recent reports that suggest culpability on the part of the “security guards” do little to mitigate the overall behavior unbecoming an Olympic athlete.

Lochte has publicly copped to “immaturity,” but not to lying. He takes “full responsibility” for over-exaggerating—in other words, no responsibility at all. As Stephen Colbert so eloquently put it: #fratboytragic.

Teammate Michael Phelps has faced the twin demons of depression and substance use and exhibited his own disappointing behavior. But Phelps disappointment in himself sent him to rehab and made him publicly embrace identifying “areas of need for long-term personal growth and development.” Also a cop to immaturity, but with recognition that it’s time to grow up.

The lesson here from a public relations perspective is that shame can be a powerful motivator for those who recognize it as the first step in true reputation redemption, not the last thing on the bucket list.