While I've previously suggested that credit unions start apublic awareness campaign similar to “GotMilk?” U.S. Senate FCU's 'bigplans' advertisement wasn't what I had in mind.

Calling the ad in poor taste is doubly redundant. Of course it'sgoing to rile the feminists, and if you're known for being edgy,you can get away with it, like the Girls on Trampolines segmentfrom “The Man Show” from Comedy Central in the early 2000s. U.S.Senate FCU is not “The Man Show.”

U.S. Senate FCU is a rather button-down organization as mostcredit unions necessarily are. Those that are edgy are far morecreative than a gratuitous cleavage shot. The credit union'smarketing department that designed or approved this mailer is ateam of boobs.

However I'm not offended personally. People are far tooconcerned about political correctness. I'm all for equalopportunity objectification. Since this design was just one piecein the larger “big plans” marketing campaign, I expect the next adwill feature a man's large—feet. A sort of tit for tat.

Like when professional athletes or movie actors that misbehavewithout breaking the law (though a bit of notoriety can perk uptheir popularity), U.S. Senate FCU is held to a higher standard dueto the very nature of its field of membership. Think about whoreceived or saw this male-r: senators and their aides, theirspouses, their children and who knows who else.

These people hold the future of credit union business lendingand supplemental capital in their hands. Even if they aren'toutraged—namely because they're taking a loan out right now fortheir girlfriend's plastic surgery—they have to behave as if theyare because their constituents, who also may have received theadvertisement, could be upset.

At $563 million in assets, you'd think its marketing would bemore sophisticated and just better. The ad doesn't even conveywhatever it is they're advertising. I have no idea what it'spromoting.

The ad wasn't the worst of it. An email sent to members,obtained by RollCall's blog Heard on the Hill which originally busted thestory wide open, read:

“We sincerely regret the message we conveyed did not meet withyour approval. Our marketing efforts have evolved with thetimes as we seek to relate to various life events of ourmembership. These may include paying for such traditionalthings as for weddings, children's braces, and purchasing autos butalso more personal activities that many people seeknowadays. We recognize any of these may not directly relate toanyone's personal situation, and we will make every attempt toexclude you from future mailings.”

The blog's analysis of this message is dead on: If you don'tlike our marketing, tough ta-tas. While the credit union apologizedfor the imagery used in the ad, I haven't seen anything promisingthe credit union will discontinue using it.

And the credit union's apology in a letter to the editor ofHuffingtonPost.com (published as a comment at the bottomof the story) was cold and inadequate. But as a result an onlinepetition calling for heads to roll and sensitivity training atU.S. Senate FCU was shut down.

Victory for both sides? Maybe. Maybe not.

The public relations work afterward was almost as bad as the ad.U.S. Senate opted not to speak to Credit Union Timesbeyond sharing the lukewarm letter to the editor that was sent toRoll Call. The credit union didn't realize its cupsrunneth over with opportunities in the PR fallout.

So the credit union royally screwed up and it was picked up byHuffPo, one of the most read news sites in existence. Andit was picked up by Roll Call, widely read on CapitolHill. And we picked it up, the most widely read, independent creditunion industry news source. Local radio and television networkspicked up the story. All were knockers of the ad campaign.

Bouncing back from the mistake immediately is important, unlessyou don't believe it to be a mistake. Issuing a statement tomembers and the press was the right thing to do though two dayslater is incredibly slow. But a written statement is not going towin over your D-tractors. To do that you need to appeargenuine and that means putting a face to the apology, even if onlyin writing. Explaining the other 95% of your big plans and talkingabout what you're doing to resolve the issue or controls put inplace to prevent it from happening again.

Obviously you don't want to bring more attention to it, butdoing this immediately, in one shot and very publicly could havegone a long way in public relations control. It would demonstrateintegrity and that U.S. Senate FCU is a place that makes thingsright.

Otherwise your efforts seem fake. Cross my heart.