The Hong Kong government's reputation has taken a beating ever since city-wide protests broke out in June 2019.

Protesters have accused the government of ignoring their grievances of police brutality, and showing "double standards" in their treatment of anti-establishment protesters and pro-Beijing counter-protesters, among other claims.

While the young man in the 1st pic had his head bloodied while being subdued by cops, the man in the 2nd (wearing a white tee characteristic of thugs who've been beating up protesters & bystanders) appears to have the luxury of using a police shield to hide his face from cameras pic.twitter.com/uOugTskwGH

— Mary Hui (@maryhui) September 15, 2019

8 PR firms it approached turned it down

In a closed-door meeting that Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam had with a group of businessmen in the last week of August, she revealed the Hong Kong government had approached eight global public relations (PR) firm in order to salvage its tarnished image, according to a full transcript of her comments published by Reuters.

But it was rejected by six of the firms.

Four of them had "immediately declined" as it would be "a detriment to their reputation to support the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) government now", she said.

Subsequently, two others "turned away a request for meetings".

As for the remaining two, Lam said at that time she will be meeting them personally to "see what advice they have".

However, it seems that they have also turned down the Hong Kong government's invitation for bids.

The government's information services department told The Guardian  the quotation exercise had lapsed as "no bid was received by the close of the quotation period".

In addition, the government revealed that they have "no immediate plan to conduct a procurement exercise of a similar nature".

Time "not right now" to rebuild Hong Kong's image

Lam had also said at a press briefing on Tuesday, Sep. 17, that PR companies the government approached said "the time is not right" to rebuild Hong Kong's image.

However, she remained optimistic, saying that Hong Kong's fundamentals remain "very strong", and that the time will come for the government to "launch a major campaign to restore some of the damage done to Hong Kong's reputation".

Background

Government promotional video poorly received

Previously, the Hong Kong government released a video on Aug. 29 calling on Hongkongers to treasure Hong Kong, their home.

However, their efforts backfired -- the video was released to mostly negative reception.

The video, which shows everyday scenes of the working class people in Hong Kong, garnered negative comments about how Hongkongers are barely scraping by despite working so hard every single day.

Anti-establishment protesters also left comments demanding all "five demands" to be met.

The Hong Kong government has also placed ads on international major newspapers to restore investor confidence in the city, much to the chagrin of protesters.

Hong Kong has entered its 16th week of protests.

What first started as opposition to a highly unpopular extradition bill that allows case-by-case extradition of criminals to mainland China later evolved into a broader call for greater police accountability and democratic rights such as electoral reforms.

Could quit if given the choice

Earlier, it was reported that Lam had also said in the meeting she would have quit if she had a choice.

However, after her comments were leaked, she clarified that she had "never tendered her resignation to the central people's government".

Chief Executive has to "serve two masters"

In addition, Lam lamented the difficult position she is in.

She said "unfortunately", the Chief Executive has to "serve two masters by constitution", and they are the central government and the people of Hong Kong, she said.

As a result, the political room for manoeuvring is "very limited", she added.

Beijing has no plans to send in the PLA

Lam had also given her thoughts on whether Beijing would send in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to help subdue the protests.

She claimed that the Communist Party is "quite scared" of doing that as the price would be "too huge to pay", and so they have "absolutely no plan" to send in the PLA.

She also said perhaps Beijing does not care about Hong Kong, but they do care about the "one country, two systems" and its international profile, which it has taken a long time to build up.

Beijing is willing to "play along", even as Hong Kong suffers and loses its tourism and economy, she said.

And to help mitigate the damage, the central government, with the help of the Hong Kong government, is continuing to work on the Greater Bay Area, Lam revealed.

Disappointed that remarks made at "private session" were leaked to the public

Regarding her leaked speech, Lam said she was "very disappointed" that the comments she made in a completely "private and exclusive session" had been recorded and then passed to the media.

"I think this is quite unacceptable. To further suggest or allege that myself or the government have any role to play in this thing is absolutely and unfounded," she said.

Top image adapted via PHILIP FONG/AFP/Getty Images & ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images