Good Week/Bad Week in Branding

Good Week: Apple – Putting itself squarely in the federal crosshairs, the company doubles down on its privacy/security stance in resisting a court order to create a back-door iPhone hack to aid in the San Bernadino mass-shooting case. A risky brand-bet, for sure, but one that seems to have galvanized loyalists… at least for now.

Bad Week: Yahoo – The limb-by-limb amputation continues as the erstwhile search leader enacts further cuts, this time announcing that it will cease publishing its digital magazine portfolio. This is on top of last month’s decision to cut roughly 15% of its workforce. Yahouch!

Worse Week: Toyota –  Habitual offender recalls more than 3 million SUVs due to faulty backseat seat belts that could come unlatched in a crash… thus leapfrogging “teenage lust” on the list of bad things that can happen in the backseat of a car.