Do you know Mary Bale? Nah, probably not. Name didn’t ring a bell for me either.
Okay, but have you read or heard about the woman from the UK that was caught on camera putting someone’s cat in a trash can about a week ago? It went viral online, was on Yahoo, Headline News, Huffington Post, etc.
“OH YEAH,” you say! “I heard about that!” Now you know her name, Mary Bale.
As a pet owner myself, this got me and about 3 billion other animal lovers fired up. She was arrested and will likely be facing charges of animal cruelty. The poor cat spent 15 hours in the trash can before someone heard its cries for help and rescued it. Fortunately the cat was just fine.
With one ignorant, careless act, Mary Bale did irreparable damage to her reputation and her personal brand.
First of all, be kind to animals. Secondly, understand that in this era of social media and video, your personal brand is under a microscope almost constantly, and not just online.
