This week Manny Pacquiao, eight –division world champion boxer, announced during his political campaign that homosexuals were ‘worse than animals.’

The media outlets were quick to spread his message far and wide resulting with the termination of his endorsement contract with sporting giant, Nike. While Pacquiao appears to be fine and happy, his publicist must be working overtime to rectify and redeem his image in the public eye, a feat that may never come.

This brings up the question of how to handle a PR crisis.

At times you can bury your head in the sand and hope it’ll blow over, but then there arereal situations that will require much more than just looking the other way.

Here’s a quick list on how to handle a PR crisis.

• Gather information. Understand what is making people angry and try to understand why it’s causing a negative reaction. Get the upper hook and listen to the public’s perception on the situation.
• Take accountabilityfor any wrongdoing and acknowledge any mistakes.
• Always be honest. A PR and their client loses credibility once honesty has left the ring.
• But above all maintain an air of professionalism. Take each crisis and learn from it and keep an eye out for any foreseeable issues that may arise for the next match.

While Pacquiao may be a world champion fighter but in this political & public match he may fighting with tomato cans and be out even with a long count.