奥斯卡典礼上出纰漏，普华永道遭遇品牌危机
周六晚，当第89届奥斯卡奖颁奖典礼正在宣布最佳影片奖得主时，普华永道(PwC)的美国董事长蒂姆·瑞安(Tim Ryan)正坐在杜比剧院(Dolby Theater)的一个豪华座位上，满意地观看着。
PwC, a London-based accounting firm, has tabulated the votes for the Academy Awards for 83 years. And the Oscars, while not its most lucrative client, is perhaps its most important. The firm leans on its long history as Hollywood’s chief vote-counter to enhance its appeal in efforts like business development and recruiting.
普华永道是一家总部设在伦敦的会计师事务所，它为奥斯卡金像奖计票已有83年的历史了。虽然为奥斯卡奖做的这点事并不是普华永道最赚钱的工作，但这也许是最重要的。这家事务所依赖于其作为好莱坞首席计票员的悠久历史，来增强其在商业发展和人才招聘方面的吸引力。
So when “La La Land” was named the best-picture winner and the producers began delivering their acceptances speeches, it appeared Ryan’s work for the night was done.
所以当《爱乐之城》(La La Land)被宣布获得了最佳影片奖、其制片人开始发表他们的获奖感言时，瑞安当晚的工作似乎就要结束了。
Then chaos erupted on the stage. A PwC partner had handed Warren Beatty, a presenter of the award, the wrong envelope. Faye Dunaway, presenting the award with Beatty, erroneously announced that “La La Land” had won. Moments later, after the two PwC partners who oversee the voting came onstage, the “La La Land” producers announced that “Moonlight” was in fact the winner.
但随后，舞台上爆发了混乱。普华永道的一名合伙人交给了颁奖者沃伦·比蒂(Warren Beatty)一个错误的信封。与比蒂一起颁奖的费·唐娜薇(Faye Dunaway)错误地宣布了得奖的是《爱乐之城》。片刻之后，监督投票的两名普华永道合伙人走到台上，《爱乐之城》的制片人转而宣布，《月光男孩》(Moonlight)其实才是获奖影片。
Ryan watched in horror as the bizarre scene played out before Hollywood’s biggest stars and tens of millions of people watching around the globe. In a dizzying turn of events, his firm, which normally occupies a back seat at the glamorous event, was suddenly at the center of one of the most sensational stories in Oscars history.
瑞安惊愕地看着这个奇怪的场面在好莱坞最大的明星和全球数千万观众面前上演。这个令人眼花缭乱的事态发展，让他的公司从通常待在这个华丽场合的背后，突然成为了奥斯卡历史上最轰动故事之一的主角。
“I knew something was up,” he said in an interview Monday, zeroing in on the discordant moment when he noticed two of his employees interrupting the best picture acceptance speeches. “It’s not their job to come out on stage.”
“我当时就知道出了问题，”在周一的一次采访中，他对那个不和谐的时刻直言不讳，当时他注意到公司的两名雇员打断了最佳影片制片人的获奖感言。“在舞台上出现不是他们的工作。”
As the magnitude of the gaffe set in, Ryan went into crisis-management mode. 随着这个失误的规模变得愈发明显，瑞安进入了危机管理状态。
“What was going though my head at the time was, ‘We have to get to the bottom of this, and if we made a mistake, we’ll own up to it,'” Ryan said. “My philosophy in life is, bad news doesn’t age well.”
“当时我的脑海里出现的是，‘我们必须一查到底，如果我们犯了错误，我们就要承担责任，’”瑞安说。“我的生活哲学是，坏消息不能拖延。”
Reaction to the mistake has been swift and harsh.
对这一错误的反应迅速且刻薄。
“You had one job!” several people remarked on Twitter, tagging the company’s username and the two partners who oversaw the ballots, who were the public faces of PwC’s efforts before and during the show. Some criticized PwC, formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, on an unofficial Facebook page for the business, with one person remarking its acronym could stand for “probably wrong card.”
“你的工作只有一个!”几个人在Twitter上写道，还在标签里带上了普华永道的用户名和监督选票的两个合伙人，他们两人是颁奖典礼前和典礼期间普华永道的招牌。一些人在普华永道会计师事务所的一个非正式的Facebook页面上批评公司，其中一个人写道，公司名PwC可以是“probably wrong card(可能是错误的卡片)”的缩写。
Just as quickly as the fortunes of “La La Land” and “Moonlight” changed, PwC, one of the so-called Big Four accounting firms, had a major brand crisis on its hands.
就像《爱乐之城》和《月光男孩》的命运改变的速度那样快，被称为四大会计师事务所之一的普华永道发现自己面临一场重大的品牌危机。
“Not since Janet Jackson and her wardrobe malfunction on the Super Bowl have we seen something quite as glaring as this snafu,” said Andrew D. Gilman, the chief executive of the crisis communications firm CommCore Consulting Group, referring to the 2004 episode. Although most of PwC’s clients are aware that mistakes can happen, “the name of the firm has unfortunately been a little sullied,” he added.
“自从珍妮特·杰克逊(Janet Jackson)和她在美国橄榄球超级杯大赛上发生服装故障以来，我们还没有看到过如此令人眼花缭乱的事件发生，”危机沟通公司CommCore Consulting Group的首席执行官安德鲁·D·吉尔曼(Andrew D. Gilman)说，他提到的是2004年发生的事情。虽然普华永道的大多数客户都知道出错是难免的，但“公司的名声不幸受到了一点儿沾污，”他补充说。
PwC was quick to accept responsibility for the mistake.
普华永道很快就承担起了这起错误的责任。
According to Ryan and others briefed on the process, a PwC partner, Brian Cullinan, handed Beatty the wrong envelope.
瑞安和其他知情人士说，把错误的信封递给比蒂的是普华永道的合伙人布莱恩·卡利南(Brian Cullinan)。
Instead of the envelope containing the winner for best picture, Cullinan accidentally handed Beatty a duplicate of the envelope for best actress — an award Emma Stone had accepted for her role in “La La Land” just moments before.
卡利南本该把最佳影片的信封交给比蒂，却不小心把最佳女主角的备用信封交给了他——就在片刻之前，艾玛·斯通凭借《爱乐之城》中的表演获获得了这个奖项。
For the Oscars, PwC uses two complete sets of the envelopes, with one placed on each side of the stage. Cullinan was handling one side, and the other partner overseeing the voting process, Martha L. Ruiz, was handling the other. It isn’t clear what led Cullinan to hand Beatty the wrong envelope.
普华永道为奥斯卡颁奖礼准备了两套完整的信封，舞台两边各放一套。卡利南负责一边的信封，另一个负责监督投票过程的合伙人玛莎·L·鲁伊斯(Martha L. Ruiz)负责另一边。究竟是什么原因导致卡利南把错误信封交给了比蒂，现在还不清楚。
Cullinan posted on Twitter a photograph of Stone backstage shortly after she won the award for best actress, and minutes before the mix-up, according to The Wall Street Journal. The post, which has been deleted, said “Best Actress Emma Stone backstage! #PWC.”
《华尔街日报》称，就在出岔子的数分钟之前，卡利南在Twitter上发布了一张斯通在后台的照片，她刚刚获得了最佳女主角的奖项。帖子上写着“最佳女主角艾玛·斯通在后台!PWC”。这个帖子现在已被删除。
The design of the envelopes could have been a factor. The envelopes were redesigned this year to feature red paper with gold lettering that specified the award enclosed, rather than gold paper with dark lettering. That could have made the lettering harder to read. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not PwC, is responsible for the design and procurement of the envelopes.
信封的设计可能也是一个因素。装有结果的信封在今年进行了重新设计，用红纸金字取代了之前的金纸黑字。这可能使上面的字更难看清。负责信封设计和采购的是电影艺术与科学学院，而不是普华永道。
Whatever the reason, PwC was left searching for answers. As celebrities and guests hit the town for celebrations, Ryan spent the hours after the awards show speaking with Cullinan, Ruiz, members of the Academy and the show’s producers.
无论原因是什么，普华永道仍在寻找答案。颁奖礼之后的几个小时，当名流与嘉宾去参加庆祝活动的时候，瑞安一直在跟卡利南、鲁伊斯、学院的成员和颁奖晚会的制片人谈话。
“I spent the bulk of the night with Brian trying to understand what happened,” Ryan said. “There wasn’t much in terms of parties last night.”
“夜里我大部分时间和布莱恩在一起，试图了解发生了什么事情，”瑞安说。“昨晚我没有怎么参加晚会。”
Ryan and others at PwC were scrambling to contain the damage all night. The firm put released a statement early Monday apologizing and taking responsibility for the mistake. Later in the day, Ryan wrote an email to PwC employees.
整个晚上，瑞安和普华永道的其他人都在忙着止损。该公司周一早些时候发布道歉声明，表示要为这个差错负责。当天晚些时候，瑞安给普华永道员工发了一封电邮。
It is too early to tell how the error will affect the PwC brand.
现在为时尚早，还不好说这个错误将对普华永道的品牌产生怎样的影响。
A privately held partnership, PwC provides accounting, tax advisory and consulting services to most of the world’s largest corporations. It reported sales of $36 billion during its last fiscal year, up 7 percent from the previous year. The entertainment and media sector accounted for just 4.2 percent of sales.
私人合伙公司普华永道为全球绝大多数的巨头公司提供会计、税务咨询和咨询服务。上一财年它的销售额为360亿美元，较之前一年增长了7%。娱乐和媒体部门仅占总销售额4.2%。
But how clients think of PwC may change.
但客户对普华永道的看法可能会有变化。
Gilman, the crisis communications specialist, said he was curious to see if PwC kept the Oscars contract. “They have branded themselves around this event saying, ‘We’re trusted’ — that’s the implication. Now I think that will take a hit.”
危机沟通专家吉尔曼说，他很想知道普华永道是否可以保住奥斯卡合同。“他们在这个活动上标榜自己说：‘我们是值得信赖的’——他们暗示的意思就是这样。现在，我觉得那种声誉会遭到打击。”
