Day: April 30, 2003

Oftentimes there are a number of small events that come together to create a trend.

Over the past couple of months, we’ve been seeing a number of such events.  Salon’s survivial was one, news that over $2 billion worth of online content was bought last year was another.

Now when the music companies agree to sell music online @ 99 cents a song, you know the Internet is really coming of age. 

The music industry has steadfastly refused to look at the potential of the Internet, and instead spent far too much time worrying about protecting existing business models.

The Apple music store is quite a step forward. Read what Karlin Lillington has to say about it.

Coupled with that news, the New York Times reports that online magazine, Slate is finally making money (thanks to Deborah Branscum for the link).

It seems the Internet is slowly but surely throwing off the post-dot bomb lethargy and quietly becoming a profitable new media channel.

The Internet has created an environment where hoaxes, myths and misinformation are a daily occurence.  There’s no doubt that PR people today deal with more crises than ever before.  This of course represents a major challenge for us all and there’s no doubt that monitoring what’s happening online is an increasingly important element of Public Relations.

However, let’s not forget that crises also happen in traditional ways.

New Bedford in Massachusetts recently launched an advertising campaign to promote the town as a tourist destination.  The ads feature New Bedford residents and the first ad featuring a New Bedford sanitation worker ran on Sunday.  The advert, which you can see at the Smoking Gun, features a full page photo of the worker with the word “Pride” emblazoned across the ad.

Only problem is, the sanitation worker in question is a convicted child molester. That’s a good old traditional crisis.

Here’s a story on the launch of the campaign and a story on the error here.

There’s no mention of this on the New Bedford website. Thanks to AdRants for the link.