Who
Stepped In It
Publicity
Campaigns Should Be Helpful: Everyone has
seen ads and publicity campaigns that are idiotic.
Why would a company intentionally hurt its image?
Most of the time, it's out-of-sync communications
professionals enamored with their jobs, living in
bubbles, and thinking people are gullible. Audiences
today are more cynical, sophisticated, and media-aware
then ever before. High jinks don't get it. What
it will get you is negative publicity, like Wednesday's
stunt by the Cartoon Network in Boston. The notion
that "any publicity is good publicity"
is wrong. That only applies to rock stars and athletes.
Negative press drives down market value. Negative
press sends people to your competitor, who may have
better values and some common sense. Before you
set your "highly creative" communications
team loose, think through the plan. How will the
media react to it? How will readers and viewers
react to it? Will it add to your bottom line or
turn off customers and potential customers?
