Scandal-hit celebrities Johnny Depp and Martha Stewart have coincidentally – yet decisively – proved my working PR theory (of several years standing) that the consequences of having ‘a bad reputation’ are far from fatal. And this must warm the cockles of any brands caught in the crosshairs of particularly taxing PR disasters or an avoidable crisis of some seven years’ incubation.

Should any rogue corporation need added proof that misdeeds needn’t necessarily root your reputation, all they have to do is think Depp or Stewart.