Pemex, Miss Universe and a growing scandal.

BY DAMIAN FRASER

What began as a national triumph – Mexican Beauty Queen Fátima Bosch goes viral at Miss Universe contest for standing up to a Thai official who tried to silence her on a livestream, then seemingly in part because of this, wins Miss Universe – turns into a full-blown reputational catastrophe for the Mexican oil giant Pemex thanks to a single X post.

How the Fire Started (I think – as the story is fast-moving)

Pemex posts congratulations to the new Miss Universe, proudly noting she is the daughter of “our friend,” longtime Pemex advisor Bernardo Bosch.

Reporters dig: Miss Universe’s 50% owner, Raúl Rocha, co-owns a firm that allegedly received a MXN 745m Pemex contract in 2023. The media implication: Rocha arranged Bosch to win in return for past or future Pemex contracts (denied and unproven).

Reforma then reports on its front page police intelligence documents allegedly linking Rocha to arms and fuel smuggling between Mexico and Guatemala. It is now reported Mexican authorities have issued a warrant to arrest Rocha for such activities.

Several judges are reported in newspapers as saying they felt pressure from Rocha to vote for Ms. Bosch. Several contestants are also reported to have complained the vote was a “stitch-up” designed to favor the Mexican.

The irony: Ms. Bosch had just become a feminist hero for confronting the Thai official who tried to shut her up — before the Pemex links flipped the narrative, raising questions on the authenticity of the Bosch original told to shut-up narrative.

Pemex rushes out a second statement insisting it had “no involvement” with pageant directors, just adding fuel to the fire.

Lessons learned

Define and stick to your social media strategy. For a large, state-owned or institutional company don’t post on stuff that is off-message. The risks are asymmetrical – you gain little, and can lose a lot. Leaving aside the alleged conflicts, it’s anyway at best questionable whether any institutional company should be supporting a contest that ranks women in this way.

Pemex owes billions to suppliers and repeatedly has received massive fiscal bail-outs to cover losses. Read the room before posting on anything.

You cannot stop a perfect story once it has started. Beat – Winning Mexican Beauty Queen + Miss Universe + Largest Mexican company mired in corruption allegations for decades + Employee’s daughter + Multimillion-peso contracts with Miss Universe Owner + Cartel allegations + Judges’ and Beauty Contestants’ complaints…

Whatever the evidence, at this point most people will assume the vote was rigged, when this involves equally reputationally-challenged Pemex and Miss Universe, and when your company hands out contracts to the pageant owner. Remember most people have jumped to conclusions before you write, including no doubt this author.

Damian Fraser is CEO at Miranda Partners. Fraser was Mexico Country Manager for UBS for almost 20 years and also worked a journalist at The Economist and the Financial Times (as head of its Mexico office).

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn. Republished with permission from the author.

(Thanks to Adam D. Williams for the great write-up in REDD Intelligence)

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