PR just for fun

A press release from Sheraton Hotels surveys those who travel for business indicating that 35% would choose having thier PDA in bed with them over thier spouse. Obviously this isnt to raise awareness for spousal neglect but for the new wi-fi lounges available by Sheraton.  In the same respect it also indicates that PDA’s enhance 84% (of those who took the survey) ability to stay in touch with family.  I find this interesting because the point of the survey is not to convey any of the information, aside from entertainment value, but to increase the awareness of the organization.

Who’s Driving?

The auto industry buy-out is on everyone’s minds and for good reason.  Now that we seem to have gotten the financial industry out of trouble (note a sarcastic undertone) it’s time to turn our attention to something more…industrial? People who don’t even know what they are talking about have waged opinions regarding this ‘rescue’ making it somewhat of a spectacle as opposed to an issue that needs to be formally addressed one way or another.  The television is full of political talk shows with Republicans and Democrats hurling allegations at each other regarding who is to blame.  It makes sense that whoever the cause of this catastrophe is will need the most public relations work….I think a lot of firms have thier work cut out for them.  We have all heard that the heads of these automotive companies arrived to Washington in private jets.  We have all heard that this is the outcome of the Bush administration.  We have all heard that this is leading to a socialist economy which is what the Democrats supposedly want.  I have even seen auto companies such as Nissan use this to thier advantage in an ad that indirectly says, “Shop with a company that doesn’t need rescuing.” 

Internally if or once these companies get on thier feet how will thier internal PR be operated?  I can imagine the inter office newsletter headline, “10 easy ways to make minimum wage feel like $20 an hour” or “Bye bye Union.”

 

Either way this should be relatively entertaining after we’ve been beaten with it to death.

Animals need PR too

There’s an article on yahoo today about the ‘Mexican water monster’ and how it’s approaching extinction explaining how scientist are doing all they can to save this salamandar.  Some blaming the climate change which could be the result of global warming it seems as of late that a lot of animals are in trouble.  Like anything else money is needed to help this particular cause which means a buzz needs to be created.  This is an interesting facet of PR because unlike a client that hires a firm or a celebrity needing a ‘public makeover’ animals do not have a voice and cannot ask for coverage.  It is the responsibility of those passionate about these animals to relate to the public the problems that most of us arent even aware of. I had never even heard of this salamandar before today and now I not only know that it’s in danger but I know it’s entire history.

wow that’s kind of hoaky.

Give me a gold star.

Putting stock back into the stock market

The economic situation has been on everyone’s minds.  Candidates struggle to tell Americans how we are going to turn things around.  401k’s plummet as banks are being sold to the highest bidder.  The word recession or ‘greatest economic tragedy since the great depression’ are thrown around casually at this point.  Needless to say people are not eager to invest.  Lately, I have noticed articles being focused moreso on the World Markets.  Today there was an article by the Associated Press regarding the decline of the European Market stating that the NIKKEI (Japan’s market) is the lowest it has been in 26 years.  I am not an economics guru by any means, just check my last economics exam score, however there does seem to be a pattern.  When it goes down to a certain point it can only go up and vice versa.  However, with so much money lost how are investment companies going to convince jaded investers to put money back into this unreliabe ’slot machine’.  Usually in public relations you are trying to persuade someone who has had a bad experience because of something that could have been controlled.  In this case, it seems as if these companies are going to have to fight a battle of predictions as no one could have forseen what has happened to the market.  I also wonder if broadcasting the news of European markets is not only informative but also in a way helping those involved in NASDAQ or Dow Jones show the public that this is a world problem diverting the attention from the problems at home.  That might just be a shot in the dark or conspiracy theory…but it got my mind off of it for a second.

To win or not to win

The vice presidential debates had somewhat unexpected results but that is really the only thing that people can agree on regarding them.  i wasnt able to see them but got an overwhelming response from my democratic liberal friends that Palin made a total ummmm “donkey” of herself.  This made me anxious to see what the news had to say.  Everyone on the broadcasts after the debate seemed to be pretty happy with the job she did, some even citing her as the “winner”. My parents were overjoyed (they didnt have a chance to see the debates either).  The interesting thing is watching them with my parents at 11 as they were replayed.  It started off decent and I was beginning to wonder what my friends were talking about because it seemed as though Palin was doing a pretty good job, even though her looking directly into the camera did kind of creep me out.  Then it started to go downhill for me and surprisingly for my parents as well.  When Palin said something to the effect of “I might not answer the questions the way the moderator or Senator Biden would like but I will tell you what my record is” my mom actually said, ”What the hell is that supposed to mean”.  My mom is a preacher’s wife so this language came to be somewhat of a shock.

We didn’t end up watching the rest of the debates but tuned into Fox News, as we usually do when anything of political consequence happens. Another surprise was a republican journalist stating that it was rather “amatuerish” of Palin to look directly into the camera as opposed to the moderator or Biden but it was her first debate this could be blamed on inexperience.  

This morning logging onto Yahoo I found that CNN found Biden as the winner of the debate based on polls but Palin did surprisingly well.  I guess I can agree with this but public opinion ceases to amaze me regarding politics.  If I was on a desert island and had no access to watching the debates but just had my friends telling how they went I would have been under the impression that Palin lost horribly and made a fool of herself.  If I had nothing but Fox news I would have thought that Palin won and Biden was a little on the boring side.  I guess the point I am trying to make is that if I am stranded on a desert island the only thing I want to take with me is CNN.

Who is getting bought out?

The buy-out has been getting a lot of press lately and remains quite controversial.  So what does it really mean? Are we going to pay the consquences of this eventually? Is this really helping anyone? All of those questions have a variety of answers as this financial crisis brought the importance of the presidential election practically to it’s knees.  My dad was telling me of a client of his who was almost finished paying off a mortgage….just had a few more payments left. She was contacted by the government stating that they had purchased her loan and they needed her final payment to be her remaining balance.  The letter also stated that if she couldnt make this payment then the government would seize her property.  There was no way she could make a payment this large but before the worst happened her loan was bought by another bank.  This buy-out was designed to ‘protect’ people’s investements but how many people do you suppose received these frightening and threatening letters regarding estates they had spent years paying for?

There’s usually always a difference between the message that’s put out there…and the true message of whats really going on–when the governments concerned.

Voting for skin color?

The upcoming election is bound to be a monumental one with either the Democratic or Republican parties the question remains, ‘Which first will it be?’

While most are saying the Republican party chose a woman vice president to counteract the fact that the democratic party chose such a monumental candidate others ask if America is ready for such progression.  A recent poll stated that Americans are still racially divided and can’t even agree on how divided they are.  It shows there’s still a substantial percentage of the population of whites who harbor negative feelings towards blacks even stating they feel blacks would vote for Obama just because he is black.  The survey also stated that 10 percent of whites feel that racism is still an important problem whereas over 50 percent of blacks still feel a substantial racial strain.  The article ends saying that with such a close race it would not be surprising if this racial problem would tip the scales especially with southern voters.  It makes me wonder what the Obama campaign’s strategy is to fight this issue-that shouldn’t even be an issue.  It also makes me wonder what problems the Republican party will face with their ‘first.’

 

More surveys to come? Let’s hope so.

http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-race-in-america

Falling Stars

In looking for a subject for this blog I scanned articles about politicians and organizations with various controversies.  I racked my brain trying to figure something out taking breaks to read about how Britney Spears is making a comeback on the video music awards and how Lily Allen got drunk at the GQ Men’s awards and cussed out Elton John.  It dawned on me what to write about.  These stars are walking organizations…walking job opportunities for assistants, stylists and managers…walking empires of multi million dollar merchandising ventures..(sorry for the extrememly poor grammar..I am being conversational here).

So what happens when these people make dramatic mistakes and risk the profit they have forcasted for everyone involved? They suffer the same as big businesses do in that everyone is more interested in seeing the failures of these walking empires as much as they are in seeing the failures of corporations like Exxon or Wal-Mart.  In this age of instant communication it was already major headlines as to what Britney Spears did to open the VMA’s while the VMA’s were still in progresss.  This instant communication is the best form of ‘repair’ because it’s form is usually the reason behind the quick backlash of the crime committed.  Lily Allen blogged on her facebook how she wanted to ‘kill herself’ for what happened between her an Elton John.  There’s an entire article about it online which also states that the blogs mentioned are no longer available to the general public.  Let’s not forget about the massive controversy behind Amy Winehouse and how her behavior sparked numerous Youtube feeds and gossip rag covers.  Her answer was rehab and to lay low.  The next time we will see or hear anything of her will be a comeback cd or well orchestrated performance.

In my opinion these celebrities and even ‘celebrities’ need more than a publicist these days and require an all out public relations firm to handle these little situations that anyone can get themselves into.  The difference being that anyone isn’t worth quite as much cash.

ACLU brings charges against the city of Denver

The Democratic National Convention was filled with great speeches as well as memorable moments.  I have a good friend that lives in Denver who was excited about the DNC up until the first day.  He lives in an art gallery that has been tattered with gang signs and local artists putting thier ‘mark’ on the aged buidling in an ‘indie’ section of downtown.  He was woken by the sounds of power washers to find Denver police in full riot gear removing the graffitti.  He then heard a knock on the door asking if the car parked outside was his and if he lived there on a permanent basis.  He answered yes to both questions and went back upstairs.  Two hours later he responded to police again who asked the same questions.  This happened 5 times the first day and throughout the entire convention police patroled the area practically intimidating residents.

This is a mild example of what went on in Denver throughout the DNC.  According to releases by the ACLU 5 individuals were arrested for protesting and put in cold jail cells.  Prisoners were shackled together and not allowed to use the bathroom privately (they had to take thier cell mate with them) and most of all they were not allowed to make a phone call or seek legal counsel.  They were brought into a courtroom early the day after they were arrested and plead guilty in order to be allowed to leave. 

City attorney David Fine responded to these charges saying that the city worked hard to protect the rights of the protestors.  This statement was to a Denver Newspaper, ‘Rocky Mountain News’ after a comment was requested of him.  He then promised than an investigation would be held regarding the incidents. It’s going to take some work for the Denver police to be fully trusted by residents like my friend along with the 3000 people who have viewed this so far.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6eGWgA6yNc

Chinese Public Relations War

Controversy has been a key element regarding the 2008 Olympics being held in Beijing China.  The mountain of scrutiny which includes the age of Chinese athletes has both the Olympic committee as well as the world press buzzing. There has also been talk of China restricting the Visas held by competitors involved with organizations against the situation in Darfur due to China’s involvement with Sudan.  Some might ask what China is going to do regarding this situation and what their plan of action will be in regards to ‘damage control.’ 

It’s the opinion of numerous web sources that China has no need to fix things.  Their political infrastructure is to keep control of the citizens of China and that is their only concern.  While it seems like blow when for instance the German Chancellor Merkel doesn’tattend the opening ceremony in protest, in the eyes of the Chinese government this just leaves extra tickets for more Chinese to attend.  In a larger perspective these protests just make the Chinese people cling to their government and it’s actions even more so which is key in a communist society.

These protests that might appear to be damaging to China in the world perspective have proved to potentially be beneficial.  For example protesters against the situation in Tibet physically tried to remove the torch from Chinese paraplympian fencer Jin Jing.  Pictures of the incident, primarily of the protester (male) who looks like he is physically  attacking the athlete who is wheel chair bound were made available with the title ‘Who looks like the victim?’.  This definitely puts a spin on the message behind the protest and shifts the spotlight to the ‘victimized’ Chinese in this situation.

Basically in a nutshell China’s public relations tactic is to do nothing because these protests are accomplishing the ’us against the world’ mentality they would like to ingrain in the minds of their citizens…..but a picture of a protester attacking a girl in a wheelchair doesn’t hurt either.

Here’s a link to the pictures I am referring to: http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20080410_1.htm