"I'm sorry" getting easier to say

I’ve seen two instances recently in which companies apologized after incurring the wrath of bloggers.

The most recent is the head of Jung von Matt, a German advertising agency. Jean-Remy von Matt sent an e-mail to his staff complaining about bloggers after several savaged a campaign for which his agency was responsible. He called blogs “the toilet walls of the Internet” and asked, “What on earth gives every computer owner the right to exude his opinion, unasked for? And most bloggers really just exude.” The blogosphere didn’t react kindly when the internal e-mail was leaked.

Now, according to the UK’s Guardian, he’s seeking forgiveness:

“My mother taught me something. If you make a mistake, apologise … I was agitated, and I wrote an e-mail to my colleagues, who had worked hard for months on the campaign and deserved some encouragement against the criticism, justified or unjustified.”

Von Matt wasn’t content to let it go with the apology, sadly, taking one last shot at bloggers:

“Even if most of the criticism of my e-mail was serious and constructive, I still see it as a breach of respect that an internal memo of mine could be sent scampering like a sow through Little Bloggerville.”