Rothstein Associates Inc.

NAIL ‘EM:
CONFRONTING HIGH-PROFILE ATTACKS ON CELEBRITIES AND BUSINESSES
By Eric Dezenhall

“We're in a culture of attack .... are you prepared?

"We're gonna nail 'em!" That's the threat usually made against corporations and well-known
people by aggressors trying to launch media-hyped smear campaigns and attacks because
they feel they've been wronged, or just because they want publicity.

“From Pepsi and ValuJet to Michael Ovitz and Kathy Lee Gifford, businesses and celebrities
today are finding themselves the front line targets of attacks by the headline-seekers, the
news media, corporate stalkers, disgruntled former employees, individuals seeking a few
minutes of fame. and others whose motives are not always clear. And it's crisis managers
like author Eric Dezenhall who step in to reduce the damage, fight the bad publicity, and
sometimes even turn the wave of negative opinion back on to the aggressors themselves.

“Can we combat the Culture of Attack? Media relations expert Eric Dezenhall says yes, and
in this examination of incidents from today's front page news and his personal experience, he
tells us how, while providing strategies that companies and individuals can use to avoid
getting nailed in the first place.”

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". . . (a) fascinating exposé "
- C . Everett Koop, former Surgeon General

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". . . a necessary read for business executives around the world . . . . Nail 'Em! gives us
all a map to navigate the dangerous shoals of our media attack culture.”
- Michael Cherkasky, President, Kroll, Inc.

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"This is a well-written, powerful, and important book . . . . While Dezenhall concentrates
on individual victims . . . it ultimately becomes clear that the real "'Em" in the title is
all of us."
- Michael Fumento, Senior Fellow, The Hudson Institute. and author of Science under
Siege.

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"As the number of sad sacks has multiplied, it's hard to tell who really needs help anymore.
Tragedy used to be an inevitable part of life-now it's a recreational sport. Our society once
believed it could clear unfair barriers and give others an opportunity to improve their lot. These
tenets built America and launched needed movements like Civil Rights. The modern Culture
of Attack, however, operates under different rules. The culture no longer wants to protect
victims, it wants to recruit them."
- Eric Dezenhall, Nail 'Em!

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“Nail 'Em! is an exploration of the personalities, conflicts, and motivations involved in such
attacks. Who are the likely targets and why? What types of allegations are made? Who
makes them? What do they hope to gain? Eric Dezenhall and his colleagues are retained to
reduce, prevent, and reverse such situations. While admitting that legitimate claims are
lodged against corporations and individuals for acts that harm others, Dezenhall illustrates
that in many cases attacks are waged for far less noble reasons. These are not merely
communications problems, but real conflicts that can only be stopped when the aggressor is
placed in jeopardy. Dezenhall examines the psychology of the attacker, notorious recent
cases, his personal experiences from the trenches, facts versus falsehoods, the role of the
news media and the Internet, and the popularity of victims in the Culture of Attack that
overshadows contemporary America.”

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"We're gonna nail 'em!" That's the threat made against Eric Dezenhall's clients - usually
corporations and well-known people - by aggressors trying to launch media-hyped smear
campaigns and attacks because they feel they've been wronged, or just because they want
publicity. It's Dezenhall's job to step in and reduce the damage, fight the bad publicity, and
sometimes even turn the wave of negative opinion on the aggressors themselves. NAIL 'Em is
an exploration of the personalities, conflicts, and motivations involved and Dezenhall's
program for slowing, preventing, and reversing these life-changing situations.

“Quoted as an expert in USA TODAY in relation to the Coke health scare and interviewed for
articles in CAPITAL STYLE and TYCOON magazines, ERIC DEZENHALL is a founding
partner of Nichols/Dezenhall, a Washington, DC firm that oversees hard news media
relations, crises, and marketplace assaults. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he also served
in Ronald Reagan's White House Office of Communications and has become the leading
expert in effective crisis-management.”

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"Dezenhall's cutting-edge approach reflects a business climate where attacks are much more
than communications problems - attacks represent conflicts that can only be resolved with a
true understanding of the agendas at work."
- Don Olsen, Senior Vice President, Huntsman Corp.

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". . . revealing insight on who gets attacked, who survives, and why."
- Dr. Richard B. Wirthlin, pollster for Pres. Ronald Reagan and Chairman of Wirthlin
Worldwide

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"Eric Dezenhall has dissected the phenomenon [of attacks] with the skill of a neurosurgeon
and the wit of an essayist. For anyone who wonders why the mud in our media is so thick,
Nail 'Em! is must reading."
- Roger D. Masters, author and Professor Emeritus, Dartmouth College

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"From my vantage point deep in the cultural trenches where the battles of personal and
corporate destruction are waged, I can say that no one has offered a more provocative critique
of what we have become."
- Frank Luntz, President, Luntz Research

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"This book offers invaluable insight and advice for anyone confronted with a vicious public
attack of the type that now pervades our sensation-seeking culture."
- Peter Barton Hull, Covington & Burling

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". . . a long-overdue handbook."
- Dr. Sally Satel, Yale University School of Medicine

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"Dezenhall's writing style is lively, his flashes of wit are frequent, and he argues a case that
will evoke much support in all kinds of haunts, and not just among those at the business
roundtable."
- Colman McCarthy, syndicated columnist

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Why It Has Become a Culture of Attack: Entitlement and Rage
2. Main Ingredients of Allegation: Plausibility and Resonance
3. The Need for Witch Hunts
4. Victimhood and the Scourge of Living
5. The Attackers
6. The Two Breeds of Crisis
7. How the Media Pique the Culture's Rage
8. Schadenfreude and Its Four Stages
9. Power, Prozac, and the Four Stages of Schadenfreude
10. Legitimate Schadenfreude
11. The Internet/Media Attack Combination
12. Alleging Is Believing
13. The Accused Face the Press
14. Dissuasion
15. Likability and Attack
16. No Fame, No Gain: The Desperate Lunge for Visibility
17. Usual Suspects: Crisis Cast of Characters and Dissuasive Facts of Life
18. The Anti-Nail 'Em
Appendix
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“ERIC DEZENHALL is a founding partner of Nichols/Dezenhall, a Washington, D.C. firm that
oversees hard news media relations, crises, and marketplace assaults. A graduate of
Dartmouth College, he served in Ronald Reagan's White House Office of Communications.
President Clinton and Kathie Lee Gifford. Pepsi and ValuJet. Reputations ruined in the blink
of an eye. ..That's when Eric Dezenhall and his prestigious Washington firm are called to the
rescue. An expert in the field of public affairs, Dezenhall has written a highly-publicized, first
and only book of its kind. Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop says "this fascinating
expose provides sobering insights on how falsehoods and distortions can play a role in
determining what issues wind up taking center stage in our culture..."

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1999, 250 pages. Order #DR492.

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