Jim Parham, PR Chronicle

Another young man strapped with explosives has flown the friendly skies and reminded us that the war on terrorism is still being fought on our own soil.

There is a public relations aspect to terrorism. Literally, extremists want to impact public perceptions and influence decision-making on a grand scale.

Think about the public relations implications of the newest attempt at terror. Why would someone pick Christmas Day? Well, it’s pretty obvious. Christmas is a Christian celebration associated with feelings of world peace and a sense of serenity. His goal was simple: Shatter the calm, introduce doubt and fear, and show the irony of the moment.

Some experts may say the act was done on a day that would have less scrutiny, lax security and unsuspecting citizens.

However, there’s a more troubling, deeper implication behind this pyrotechnical display at 30,000 feet. Terrorists are staying a few steps ahead of us with their diabolical decisions.

First, the day was chosen by the would-be warrior because we have a set of values based upon Western thinking. On Christmas, we are snuggled soundly in our beds with thoughts of sugarplums dancing in our heads. No one would really attack us on Christmas Day, would they? That seems dark and cheap — exactly.

Second, our security experts have long suggested that terrorists want to blow up planes over the ocean to hide evidence. But, they neglect to take into account one key point. The current soldier-of-terror is not concerned with being coy or sly. In fact, the exact opposite is true. In this instance, the goal was to cause as much damage as possible by blowing up a plane over a metropolitan area, on American soil, during one of the major Christian holidays.

Why didn’t our experts think of that? They may want to take a few crash courses in public relations this year.

Making predictions is a dangerous business. What is certain about 2010 is uncertainty. However, since we know that history repeats itself, we can call upon the past to help foretell the future in the world of public relations.

Let’s hit some predictions “out of the ballpark.” Here is my list of PR predictions for 2010:

1. A sports legend or current icon will fall victim to his/her own “bad” behavior and have to pledge goodness and sainthood in the future.
2. A politician will admit infidelity and put his wife on the podium with him during the apology speech.
3. On Wall Street, someone will get an undeserved bonus.
4. The White House press secretary will have to “clarify” the vice president’s remarks.
5. A Hollywood star will be “caught on tape” with someone who is not his/her spouse at a trendy nightclub or sunny beach.
6. A governor will announce that his/her state is broke and will have to do “more with less.”
7. A sports star will receive a salary twice the size of the national debt, and will later test positive for illegal substances.
8. The president will have a teleprompter mishap while saying “unprecedented” or “change.”
9. A late night television host will have to apologize for something he’s said.
10. A spokesman will appear on the national nightly news and suggest their company’s double-digit profit is not unreasonable, nor undeserved.

Go ahead. Try it yourself. I’m sure you’ll be right!

Tiger’s public relations street cred is sinking faster than one of his fairway drives, and public relations pundits are punishingly critical of his spin doctoring to date.

This is a man who has enough money to bail out Dubai, yet he’s left standing at the precipice of a perception verses reality canyon. At this time, there is little that money or a spinmeister can do to help his cause.

Perceptions are like cancer cells. They are difficult to control, hard to kill and once established tough to change into a more benign form.

Here are several mistakes Tiger has made to date:

1. Waiting too long to say anything, thereby allowing the perception train to pull out of the station.
2. Being reactive to building questions surrounding his late-night costly cruise.
3. Seeming to hide behind his gated community’s walls like a wanted man, or at the very least, a very rich man who doesn’t want to talk to the police.
4. Allowing the tabloids to form a cast of public perception around unsubstantiated and potentially troubling claims of “other” women.
5. Holding off for days to issue a sincere apology and begin “damage control” with his family, friends and those important sponsors.

A sad fact is that this type of behavior by sports legends is all too common. Had Tiger’s team of consultants and image masters revisited recent sports history they would’ve found several examples of sports stars and their public relations disasters. Serena Williams, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, Kobe Bryant…the list goes on.

Unfortunately, Tiger is playing way below “par” on the perception management front.