This was definitely NOT a good PR move - in the current economic environment, putting pressure on a 72-year old loyal fan who has fallen on hard times is not going to go over well in the media. That said, based on the WaPo (http://bit.ly/1av5qN )article, I am guessing that the Redskins didn’t really have a great sense of her exact situation (see the quote below):

"A lot of it is a judgment call you make when meeting them, or on the phone, about the legitimacy of the situation," he said. "It does happen that we get lied to by people who identify reasons for wanting to get out of a contract. They don't always tell us the truth."

He added: "I can't say everyone gets dealt with exactly the same. I can't guarantee everyone gets dealt with the appropriate level of compassion, but that is our goal."

I’m not saying that the Redskins made the right move here – clearly they look like the greedy big corporation taking down a nice old lady here. My guess is that they made their best judgment call with very little knowledge and in this case it has turned out poorly for them.

On a related note – this is one of many stories that have had a very similar tone over the past 24-36 months (Nice person, falls on hard times. Large company makes their life difficult). Perhaps the most refreshing thing was that the woman at least seemed to have a little sense of guilt for what she’d done. It’s easy to vilify these companies (and in some cases it’s justified), but we need to be careful to put ALL of the blame on them.

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