Weinstein Co. Name Change? ‘Too Little, Too Late’

Already fired, Harvey Weinstein could lose his last connection to the film company that for 12 years has borne his name. The Weinstein Co. may go nuclear in its bid to wash the stain of a sex harassment scandal that’s engulfed him: It’s considering changing its name. Such a move carries a long and surprisingly successful history in the realm of crisis public relations, but this time it may not be enough.

Publicly accused of wrongdoing by several female actors, Harvey Weinstein has become a disaster for the independent movie maker, now run by his brother Bob. Reputation experts agree thoroughly that separating Weinstein Co. from Harvey Weinstein is a necessary first step. But Dorothy Crenshaw, founder of public relations firm Crenshaw Communications, said even the most thorough scrubbing of his name and legacy won’t protect the company’s image, since the public knows he was the power behind it.

No knee-jerk name change can wash that away, Crenshaw said, adding: “It may be too little, too late.”

Over the years, all sorts of scandals have prompted companies to reject legacies and change names in a bid to mollify an angry public. ValuJet became AirTran after a plane crash; WorldCom became MCI after an accounting scandal. The private security contractor once called Blackwater tried to rejigger its public persona twice—to Xe Services in 2009, then Academi in 2011—after a series of high-profile incidents brought it under intense scrutiny. “From now on, I’m going to be in the background; I’m going to be boring,” Ted Wright, the Academi chief executive officer at the time, said after the second switch. “You’re not going to see me in headlines.”