I’ve noticed a few “apology” ads as of late, or companies practicing a little self-deprecation in their marketing efforts. “Sorry” is nice, but are these companies really cleaning up their mess or trying to figure out ways not to make one in the first place?

I tend to walk the line between Gordon Gekko and Sweden, so I don’t really believe it’s every company’s responsibility to try to make the world a better place, but please don’t make it worse. Maybe you’re an energy company that just destroyed a vast stretch of coastal ecosystem, or a gadget maker whose mobile phone can’t keep a call on the line, and you’re worried about your image among consumers. First of all, and this works wonders with my girlfriend, own your mistake and say you’re sorry. Second, and this works even better with the GF, let us know what you’re ALREADY doing to fix it. We’ve all seen the lovely apology ads with their uplifting music, sunrises and promises to roll up the sleeves and get cracking on a solution. But what I think we all want is the message that your company had a contingency plan in place and things are already moving to the positive … not an “oops!”

There’s an opportunity here for Corporate America to enlist creative help and come up with some real solutions and great ideas on how to make things better … before the worst happens. As creative types, we thrive on listening to every detail and building a complete understanding of our problem before we develop a solution. Remember “think different”? Think about all the angles. Think about completely abandoning your current customer relations practices. Bring your advertising, marketing and PR teams in and ask them, “What do we do if the worst (or something even just slightly irritating) happens?” They’ve done the research, and they know what your customers expect and what they want from your products, as well as your company’s responsibility in the world. They will help you promote your brand in the Social Media realm and keep it from getting trashed all at the same time. With all the tools like Google AdWords, Twitter and WordPress, it’s simple to take all that customer feedback and turn it into understanding of what motivates them and not just indicators of what you did wrong.

It’s time for a little less salesmanship and a lot more empathy from big business. Changing consumers’ stereotypes of Corporate America demands that your company adopt processes that encourage both inspiration and impact.