Sleep-Deprived Research

If I were working for Sleepy's public relations firm, I would have not published the research. Only because, the differences in sleep patterns between occupations was so minimal I don't see what the point was. Yes, it does draw attention to their company and make people think about their own sleep patterns, but I think they could have found a better study to use to promote their company.

My thoughts on the New York Times use of the research is the same as Sleepy's. What was the point of publishing such research, when the differences in time between occupational sleep patterns was mere minutes. Also, who knows how accurate the research is seeing as the sampling pretty much guessed at how many hours of sleep they received. The Gray Lady should have done a better job with this.

Fall from Grace

Nancy really is a passionate person about a number of issues and cases. Obviously, I don't agree with her continued persecutions of people in cases that have either been settled in court, or have mounting evidence exonerating them. Personally, I believe it makes her look very stupid when she continues on saying how guilty people are even after a ruling has been made. I would like to know what it is about certain cases that makes her so passionate and blind to the facts.

If I was the public relations manager for Nancy's show on HLN, I would live in constant fear that she was going to do something to get us all in trouble. The way she carries on her crazy accusations, it is no shock that she is not hit with multiple slander lawsuits every year. I am surprised that CNN, with the reputation that is has, lets her speak on their airways.

The Sad Memoir of Scott McClellan

It is my belief that McClellan's loyalty to George Bush ended when he was fired, and that ethically there is nothing wrong with him revealing everything he knew, within reason of course, about what went on in the White House. I believe that his ethical loyalty should be allowed to expire once he is no longer being paid. Of course, I do think he would still have an ethical responsibility to uphold and keep secret any national security or safety information that he was made aware of during his employment.

During his employment, I am sure there was an internal struggle within himself to decide what to reveal because of his responsibility to the public versus his responsibility to his boss. The public deserves to know what is going on inside the White House, but the government also should be able to reserve some information. The golden median has to be found between these two extremes with the hopes that the right decision is made.

A Publicity Tie Too Far

Personally, I thought it was quite humorous that Backcheck issued an advertising press release, but that still does not mean that it was right. Yes, it was funny. No, it was not tasteful. The overall offensive part of their statement was how they were using someones death as a platform to promote their products. It is amazing how in a company with so many employees, nobody thought that this would be a bad idea.

I would say that Fleishman-Hillard did as good of a job as they could considering the foolishness their client unleashed. President John Blyth apologized and reiterated that his agency does good work, and that a mistake like this would not happen again. I am not sure what else he could have done to have made this better. I know though, that I would not have let Backcheck CEO Dave Dinesen make the statement that he did, which simply showed his ignorance and naivety to the situation.

Occupy: SI, Changing Public Opinion: Not Exactly

Personally I feel the Occupy Wall Street movement had good merit, and good intentions in terms of what they ultimately wanted to accomplish in bringing awareness to the corrupt running of the economy. With that said, they did not have a clear focus or message. Also, there was not an official leader, or someone to be the face of the movement. OWS should have picked one issue, and made that its primary goal.

If I was in charge of the Occupy Wall Street movement's public relations, I would have recognized the negative attitude the people and business's we were affecting had by our physical presence around them. I would have tried to figure out a way for us to demonstrate and be heard, but also not be an inconvenience to the neighbors and everyday people who's space we were taking up. I also would not be issuing multiple press releases about multiple issues. I would have made sure that our leadership knew we needed to focus on a singular issue that was easy to understand, and easy to gain support for.

The Name That Slimed An Industry

There really was not a fair debate regarding the healthiness and safety of the "pink slime" produced by Beef Products, Inc. It would appear that the negative attention the product received stemmed from an irrational fear caused simply by what is in a name. Perhaps, if USDA meat inspector Gerald Zirnstein had named it something more pleasant, it would have went completely under the radar. Before putting the product immediately on death row, studies and tests should have been performed on it to see just how safe, or unsafe it really is. If it was unsafe, why would the USDA even allow it to be sold and used?

If I was the public relations manager for Beef Products, Inc., I would not have let the name given by the USDA stand for as long as it did. Ten years ago when it first started being called "pink slime," I would have done everything in my power to change that name, receive the support of the USDA, and prove the worthiness of it to be sold and used in food products. It seems that whatever they tried to do after the blogger launched the online petition, it was too-little, too late and this all could have been avoided if pro-action had been taken a decade prior.

Burson Fumbles Facebook Flap

Instead of trying to make up a fake story about Google, Burson-Marsteller should have focused their energies on promoting the product that Facebook was working on, and telling the world about how it would be a better choice for internet users. By doing what they did, Goldman and Mercurio broke the public relations cardinal rule, "Never lie." I personally do not blame any of the bloggers or news professionals who called them out on their antics, as it is quite amateure of Burson-Marsteller to think they could manipulate the media in such a way.

Because public relations is built around the truth, and the transmission of information, I do believe that firms should have to disclose who their clients are. The philosophy of the real father of modern public relations, Ivy Lee, was that the key to business acceptance and understanding was for the public to be informed. Because of this, there is no reason that people should not know who the largest (and smallest) media controllers are being represented by.

Firing the Nazi in the House of Dior

I personally do not believe there was much else that Dior could have done besides fire John Galliano for his awful hate speech. Especially since this took place in Europe, and especially since the entire Dior brand was founded after Nazi occupation, Galliano should have known better. It is a wonderful example of no matter how powerful you are, or how talented you may think you are, that you still have to be mindful of what you say and how you treat people. I believe that you can still have an opinion, and a stance on an issue, but you don't drunkenly spray it on everyone around you.