MetaFilter posts tagged with PR

PC World gone Mad

mippy — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:33:04 -0800

Things seem to be going from bad to worse in PR terms for the Dixon Stores Group. First, PC World was voted one of the worst high-street stores in Britain. Then, their staff Facebook group reveals a lot of somewhat interesting comments abotu their customers. "[name removed] wroteat 22:49 on 16 July 2007 im sorry, but this sort of stuff would get you into trouble if it wa leaked on the public view! remember youtube? how mad did headoffice go with that, doesnt look professional and all. my advise is, becareful of what you put, we can have a laugh, but plz dont be too silly with this!"

What do lobbyists do?

stammer — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:38:02 -0800

Colonel Muammar al-Gadaffi, Leader and Guide of the Revolution, has been consulting with two US-based PR / lobbying companies—The Livingston Group (Sourcewatch) and Monitor (Sourcewatch)—to effect the rebranding of Gadaffi's Libya as a desirable and trustworthy ally of the United States. Confidential documents from these consultations have been obtained and posted online by a Libyan opposition group called NCLO. They include fee quotes, progress reports, and mission plans, as well as a personal tutorial curriculum for Gaddafi's son. Via LRBlog Gadaffi's official website.

United States surrenders, terror, drugs win.

TheOnlyCoolTim — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:10:21 -0800

Without much fanfare, the Global War on Terror has ended. The new name for these military interventions is the Overseas Contingency Operation. Press Q&A. Some Republican representatives discuss. (SPOILER: They are not pleased.) Military blogs discuss. Similarly, the War on Drugs also looks to be on the way out, though no new name for the project has been announced at this time.

Marketing Gone Bad?

muggsy1079 — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:19:59 -0800

The videogames industry's not known for its subtlety when promoting its wares. Controversy has often been a successful part of their marketing campaigns. But is this a step too far? They'll have to go some way to cause more chaos than these guys

Brother can you spare a jet?

up in the old hotel — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:44:07 -0800

With orders for new aircraft down, the private jet industry is launching a PR onslaught and a website to counter all the bad press surrounding greedy executives flying private jets. Lo and behold, two financial columnists expressed strikingly similar views on the subject. Members of Congress, who love to catch a ride home on a contributor's private plane, are helping out too.

Air Flow

Artw — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:44:37 -0800

How to blog, or counter-blog, for the US Air force, in handy flow chart form.

Kittens of the Sea

mippy — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:23:22 -0800

Fish. They're ugly and they smell. You can't find many calendars with them on, and they lose out to pandas when it comes to zoo adoption. But wait! PETA are going to save fish through canny PR. Say hello to Sea Kittens.

You can't beat the Axis if you get VD.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:36:01 -0800

Vintage ads galore.

Public Relations

thisisdrew — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:41:53 -0800

Show me a PR person who is "accurate" and "truthful," and I'll show you a PR person who is unemployed. In The Wake Of Scott McClellan's New Book, CBS Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen Says PR People Are Aghast At The Truth. Includes a follow-up to the mountain of reactions he received.

Heck of a job, Creative

ed — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:07:52 -0800

A geek named daniel_k wanted to help his fellow Vista users. He created a set of drivers that would get their Creative sound cards working under Vista -- something beyond the ken and expertise of Creative's engineering team. Creative VP Phil O'Shaughnessy, however, took umbrage. The results? A PR disaster with hundreds of users pledging to boycott.

I Can't Do That Dave, now put your pants back on

wendell — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:43:52 -0800

In what may be the silliest poll ever taken, British women say Men Named Dave are Most Likely to be "Well Endowed". There's a whole "Top 10" and "Bottom 10" list of names... see how you stack up. The people who did the survey do this kind of thing for companies to get publicity. It works pretty well. This one was done for an online dating company, UK Dating, but the pollster got most of the publicity. Previously, for the same client, they surveyed for Names of Men Most Likely to Cheat (very UK-centric result). A beverage company commissioned The Most Common Lies and they've done a lot of other mostly useless surveys. Please note that Matt and Wendell did not appear on either list (but my condolences to Josh, #7 on the "little" list).

Transitive Nightfall. Now with Extra Diamonds!

mmahaffie — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:16:19 -0800

Is there no humor in public relations? The public relations blog PRBlogNews included a post last week on PR and LSD (a long strange happy tradition). It appears to have been a joke, mixing a selection of early youth-on-acid videos with a vintage discourse about LSD by Dr. Richard Alpert (later Ram Dass) re-imagined as a history of successful "tripvertising." It must have stirred some sort of trouble; there's been a follow-up, "LSD and PR don’t mix" post (Don’t eat the brown acid) which warns against mixing PR and LSD (and hot dogs).

Cross-Promotional Bloggy Goodness

brittney — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:18:43 -0800

A Nashville blogger decided to tackle to the project of consuming and reviewing all 51 sandwiches on the Which Wich menu. The local Which Wich caught on, and despite some negative critiques, decided to promote the blogger's URL on every sandwich bag leaving their store.

what part of the cow do you use in the burgers cos i heard it was the teeth.

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 08:31:54 -0800

McDonald's UK goes Web 2.0 with a site answering user's questions. Apparently, all of them.

"The station's gaffes have included broadcasting in December 2006 a 68-minute call to arms against Israelis by a senior figure of the terrorist group Hezbollah..."

amberglow — Tue, 22 May 2007 11:21:09 -0800

Al Hurra television, the U.S. government's $63 million-a-year effort at public diplomacy broadcasting in the Middle East, is run by executives and officials who cannot speak Arabic, according to a senior official who oversees the program. That might explain why critics say the service has recently been caught broadcasting terrorist messages, ... from their About US page: Alhurra is operated by non-profit corporation “The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc.” (MBN). MBN is financed by the American people through the U.S Congress. US Govt. Accountability Office abstract about other MBN problems here.

Spinning openness

srboisvert — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 07:40:48 -0800

How to control your look of openness by Microsoft. An inside look at how Microsoft spun wired's article covering Microsoft's video site Channel 9. It's an interesting peek at how PR works.

Owen Wilson Rebuttal

wfc123 — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:44:44 -0800

Owen Wilson has denied any connection between his new movie, "You, Me and Dupree," and '70s supergroup Steely Dan, a spokesman for the actor said Friday. The band recently posted a letter on their Web site claiming that Wilson's Dupree character was based on their Grammy-winning song, "Cousin Dupree," about a couch-hopping houseguest. In a statement released by his spokeswoman, Ina Treciokas, Wilson said: "I have never heard the song `Cousin Dupree' and I don't even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, `HEY 19.'"

I, for one. . .

Marnie — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 08:31:13 -0800

It's Miller Time for SCIENCE: Survey Says: New Men are Evolving Adults, hate wine and shoes!

Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed

NailsTheCat — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:10:47 -0800

US TV newsrooms churn out PR companies' spin as real news. Hats off to those broadcasters who turned the spin around to reflect the real truthiness.
Meanwhile while I didn't find similar PR company manipulation in UK TV news, there's certainly an element of government, or more accurately MoD, faking that compares well with the US's.

it's not just Armstrong, Gannon/Guckert and their pals

amberglow — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 07:50:31 -0800

The Price of Payola and Fake News? 1.6 billion dollars for just 2003-5 alone. The GAO's new report lays it out. That's how much seven federal departments spent from 2003 through the second quarter of 2005 on 343 contracts with public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations and individuals, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. ... The new report reveals that federal public relations spending goes far beyond "video news releases." (full report is a PDF download from there) And there's another scandal coming, if Wonkette has it right.

The New Clean Air Act

Rothko — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 08:56:51 -0800

Reflected in the worsened respiratory health of NYC residents (via the WTC Health Registry), a federal judge ruled (NYT; bugmenot) former Bush administration EPA chief and NJ governor Christine Todd Whitman misled New York City residents about air quality after the attacks of 9/11. Whether or not the then-head of the Environmental Protection Agency was pressured by Bush economic policy director Lawrence Lindsey to "get the financial markets open quickly" (longer 9/11 commission report) despite concerns, her PR consulting firm continues to do greenwashing for petrochemical corporations with very poor environmental records, including FMC, responsible for 136 Superfund sites across the country.

A Peek Under the PR Mask

Postroad — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 10:38:53 -0800

A Peek Under the PR Mask Once in a blue moon, we actually get a peek under the White House's public-relations mask, and this morning it comes courtesy of Peter Baker and Dan Balz , whose front-pager in The Washington Post suggests that Bush's unflagging public confidence about his Iraq policy reflects the work of public opinion researchers.

Harbin, Benzene and H5N1

[expletive deleted] — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 10:39:57 -0800

Government is a Brand, Whether You Like it or Not: Officials in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, likely with the knowledge of the central government, lied to the public about the toxic spill that forced Harbin to shut off its water. A chillingly illustrated real time account reveals how the coverup was exposed amid a panic in Harbin. A PR man in Beijing discusses how this could result is a serious loss of public trust in the government of China, and how behavior like it compromises China's transition to a market economy. This story lends credence to the theory that China is not being honest about H5N1, previously discussed here. Has China learned nothing from SARS?

DeLay Gets QueerEyed in Time for the Pen

digaman — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:32:39 -0800

[Mugshot filter] The Hammer is tanned, rested, and ready... to kick some partisan-hack a**! But seriously folks, has Tom DeLay ever looked better in his life? Book 'im, Danno -- and don't muss that fabulous hair!

More PR...

SirOmega — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 22:40:06 -0800

Bush teleconference with troops staged. Nothing in the article says who is responsible for organizing the staged question and answer session, The White House, military officials, or others in the defense department. Just that it infact was staged, and that the troops were coached for 45 minutes prior to the actual teleconference. When Bush, in an unscripted move, asked an officer if he had anything to say, he stammered through a sentence, in stark contrast to the well put together responses to all the other questions, thanking the President and saying, "I like you." More PR from the Bush administration.