Now gentle reader(s), this blog has, since 2002, been strictly operated under the auspices of the “greenhouse code”.
You won’t (or very rarely and probably due to me being in a grumpy mood) find knee jerk reactions to the silliness one finds around our profession, but today I happened upon two items that perfectly illustrate the issues you and I face in presenting a credible and professional face to the world.
#1 – The Captain Lawrence “I am just going outside and may be some time’ Oates Award
From Mark Ragan…
News of the snafu concerning Mark Penn, the worldwide chief executive of Burson-Marsteller
Mark sums it up very nicely:
In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, Penn dusted off one of my favorite escape clauses.
"With the benefit of hindsight," he said of his work for Burson-Marsteller. "I would have done things differently."
What does this really mean? How could Penn have not known what was in store for him? Did he really think that Clinton could tolerate her top strategist contradicting a very visible campaign pledge?
What he really meant to say is, "if I had known I would be nailed, I wouldn’t have done it."
Here’s the interview from the Guardian.
#2 – Excuse me? – Finalist in “The world’s worst ever PR pitch” competition
From Mr. Dugan’s weekend assignment, The Bad Pitch Blog…
This is a Twitter-esque bad pitch. I am printing it in its entirety:
SUBJECT: Mailing Services are a hot trend for printers
BODY Hello!
Could you run this in your publication.Thank,
Celeste
Oh Jebus. And the pièce de résistance par deux?
She then attached the press release as a PDF document and cc’d the e-mail addresses of ninety media outlets.
Lads and Ladies, seriously, next time you’re getting on your high horse about the unfair treatment our profession receives… remember… there are reasons for it.
Now excuse me while I get back into the warm yet comfortable greenhouse.
Murphy's Law 