Deceit, greed or just plain stupidity, there's no place to run or hide. A reporter or blogger is surely going to be there with a keyboard, camera or microphone. And, in the nanosecond of one digital click, it is international news with memorable headlines.
While the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. launched the opening salvo against Volkswagen for the intentional rigging of the emission controls on diesel engines in 11 million cars, it took no time at all for the fate of Volkswagen and its senior team to be decided.
As Thad Moore reported in the latest of his moment-by-moment tracking of the story in the Washington Post:
Embattled Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned Wednesday, less than a week after an emissions cheating scandal erupted in the U.S. and quickly spread around the world, leaving the German car giant at risk of billions in fines and criminal prosecution.
There doesn't seem to be any question that all this was intentional stupidity with far-reaching implications for Volkswagen and for the environment. The media have made sure everyone who owns a VW or was thinking of buying one now certainly has doubts about those famed designers and engineers and the culture that let this happen. Given the breadth of the Volkswagen Group (VW AG), some can't help but wonder about the impact of this deceit on sales of Audi, Porsche, and even those legendary machines with the celebrated names of Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini.
This is now going to be known as "Dieselgate," the term coined by columnist Kevin Roose in a dramatic headline for his scathing article in Fusion.net, the online media site. He called this "a new low in corporate malfeasance."
How's that for a memorable tagline?
What now for the value of those brands?
None of the power of the media is new though. In fact, a hundred years ago Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis previewed the dramatic relationship that would escalate between business and the media on issues dealing with values, behavior, communication and reputation.
In Chapter V of his 1914 book, Other People's Money, he wrote:
Publicity is justly recommended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.
Brandeis predicted the tremendous impact of the media on business.
Over the decades, the media in all their forms have had a profound influence on how businesses are perceived. After all, the media decide where and when the sun and electric light are to be shined.
With historic origins as the "fourth estate," today the media are no longer confined to the traditional and have an ever-increasing impact on reputation and brands. With social media, anything is fair game and there are no boundaries of time zones or geography.
When we look at almost every crisis - with the media scrutiny that, of course, follows - the root of the problem lies in behavior. Whether the motive is greed or deceit, or not, it comes down to unquestionably stupid behavior.
It's always the same. And the real question is: How or why was this kind of stupidity tolerated? There is so, so much at stake.
How did anyone get away with it?
In the world of business, where were the supervisors and the bosses? As you go up the line, who knew? Who didn't?
After all, as we all know, "tone at the top" matters most.
From a practical perspective, can anyone even start to calculate the resources - how much time and money - it will take to bring the Volkswagen brand back?
The task is mindboggling.
So, when tempted to look away or turn aside from something stupid, we should all remember Ben Franklin's retelling of a proverb in his 1758 preface to Poor Richard's Almanac:
A little neglect may breed mischief ...
for want of a nail, the shoe was lost,
for want of a shoe the horse was lost,
and for want of a horse the rider was lost.