Heritage India: PR 101 Course, Perhaps?

From Michelle Lancaster. Follow her and tell her your news on Twitter @MichLancaster or email her at [email protected].

Washington Examiner linked to the statement issued by Heritage India about the violence at their Dupont Circle location this past weekend. If you somehow missed it, one man died after being shot while two more people suffered gunshot wounds and three people were stabbed. The fight started inside the club and spilled out onto the 1300 block of Connecticut Avenue NW just south of Dupont Circle.

What Heritage India said about the horrible incident is not much, as one would expect from a company that is surely under advisement from a lawyer. The statement starts out well enough, “Heritage India extends its deepest sympathies to the family of Jhonte Coleman. We wish a quick and healthful recovery for the others…”

However, does anyone else find the second and third paragraphs, at best, jarring, and, at worst, sort of surreal? “Heritage India is proud to be among Washington’s world-class restaurants, offering guests from around the city, country and the world a memorable fine-dining experience. Heritage India often hosts wedding receptions, businesspeople, government officials, foreign diplomats and other dignitaries for large lunch and dinner banquets,” reads the second paragraph.

Look, I know you apologized first. But you probably should have stopped at that. When someone dies, it is high time to get your marketing person the heck out of drafting statements.

The rest of the statement really isn’t much better, in my personal and professional (in public relations 9 to 5) opinions. Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and family of those harmed in the violence would have been a better choice of words.

Am I the only one who thinks this statement is offensive?