PR bashing from the media? Take your best shot!

It took a local news story about “image makers” to remind me again that the media don’t like us — or at least they act like they don’t like us. I didn’t need the reminder, but there it was on page one.

Fact is, I’m OK with news-media types taking potshots at public relations. I mean, they need to assert their independence just like everyone else. So I say to my partners in public relations: Stick out your chins and let your reporter friends take their best shots. Trust me. It won’t hurt a bit.

That local story was Phil Trexler’s piece in last Sunday’s Akron Beacon Journal, flagship paper of the former Knight-Ridder chain. Trexler’s report doesn’t just cast aspersions on PR people, it questions the very need for us to exist — at least in the public sector, where taxpayers fund our salaries. The headline decries that “media handlers” often are paid more than teachers or police. Sheesh. Should I even try to point out the fallacies in that one? Nah. It’s too easy.

Farewell to Facebook — It’s time for me to go

I’ve decided to shut down my Facebook page sometime before the end of the year. I don’t feel comfortable there. Never did.

So, if you want to catch the photos of my summer trip to Lake Superior, do it before January 1st. And for posterity, here is my latest Facebook profile picture, taken at our home at Sandy Lake near good ole Kent, Ohio.

My students love Facebook. It’s a wonderful way for them to stay connected to friends and to expand their social network. And Facebook has the public relations and marketing types licking their chops with 10 million students as perfect targets for their viral campaigns.

PRKent’s Michele Ewing earns national recognition for Kent State program

Time out for an update from the home front. And it’s more good news for the Public Relations Sequence at Kent State (aka, PRKent).

Professor Michele Ewing, APR, was honored in Salt Lake City this week as the 2006 Teahan Award winner for Outstanding Chapter Faculty Advisor in the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). Congrats to Michele, and to the students whose performance helped bring her to the national spotlight.

The Teahan Awards recognize excellence in PRSSA, the world’s premier student public relations organization. This is a big deal for Michele, and for all of us associated with the program. So students and alumni, feel free to bask in her reflected glory.

Last year, under Michele’s direction, the Kent State Chapter earned a Teahan for Outstanding PRSA/PRSSA Chapter Relationship (in conjunction with Akron PRSA).

Strategic communication = right audience + right channel + right message + right time. Got it?

I’ll work hard to see this post doesn’t turn into a rant. But it won’t be easy.

What tripped my trigger today was a 6-page newsletter, the old-fashioned paper kind that doesn’t come with a delete key. And because I couldn’t delete it, it sat by my desk like a hungry dog waiting for the leftovers. Finally I had to pick it up, if only out of respect for the trees that died to make it possible.

From what I can tell, the newsletter was issued by the HR department of a large public university. I’ve changed names and identifiers to keep from embarrassing anyone — a trick I learned from the Bad Pitch Blog.

When the college years begin, it’s time for ‘helicopter’ parents to buzz off

Helicopter parents have gone to college, or so says an AP story that made the rounds late last week. Because so many of my students and former students drop in on this blog, I thought I’d better clue them in before they procreate and screw up the next generation.

AP writer Martha Irvine tells us how well-intentioned but overly doting parents find it impossible to let go, even as their kids are ready to graduate college. It’s more than sad — it’s pathetic.

Diversity in public relations could use a fresh perspective — from men

Some will see this post as politically incorrect. But they’ll get over it.

For 20 years now the public relations profession has seen a radical change in the ratio of men-to-women working in the field. For 20 years we’ve studied the phenomenon, and for 20 years we’ve talked about its impact on the business.

I’m wondering if it’s not time to do something about it.

Today, some 65% of the PR practitioners are women, but wait ’til you see the next generation. The latest figures peg PRSSA membership at 90% female. Those numbers echo our enrollment here at Kent State, and it’s been that way for nearly a decade. Mind you, not everyone who enters this field studies public relations in college, but the gender trend is clear no matter what your degree.

I get on my knees and pray we don’t get fooled again!

When I woke up Tuesday, I had to hear my favorite Election-Day song — and quite possibly the best rock-n-roll song ever recorded. Ironically, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was written and recorded by a bunch of Brits — a band called The Who. Maybe you’ve heard of them.

It happens that this political anthem is also the song I most associate with my college days. When I arrived at the East Green on Ohio University in 1971, that song was blasting from every window in the quad. Anti-war sentiment was everywhere, and so were the hippies. I won’t lay claim to the “hippie” title, but I did have the requisite shoulder-length hair, and I aspired to the hippie lifestyle.

I also had a draft card with 1-A status along with a sincere hope that our nation would find its way out of Southeast Asia before asking me to join the fray. Our boys died in Vietnam for a few more years. I got lucky and didn’t have to join them.

Political activism isn’t as prevalent on campus today. But neither are draft cards. You think there’s a correlation?

Public relations ballyhoos LeBron’s $150 sneakers

The NBA season arrived last week and with it came the optimism of Cleveland Cavalier fans. That optimism exists because the NBA’s best player, LeBron James, wears the wine and gold.

But this isn’t a story about basketball. It’s a story about PR and marketing for basketball shoes.

While page one of our local paper reported on the Cav’s upset of the Spurs last Friday, page one of the business section talked about the introduction of King James’ new shoe, the AirZoom. Well, it’s not really an introduction, since you can’t buy the shoe or another week or so. For now, the shoes are locked in Plexiglas cases at Footlocker, Dick’s and other big-name retailers. You may go there to genuflect before the swoosh. But until Nov. 16, don’t touch. Now that’s how you build anticipation!

Continued ‘flogging’ raises eyebrows, little more

It’s been almost a week since the blog Consumerist told us about the latest fake blog, or “flog,” this one masterminded by McDonald’s and its PR firm. This morning’s OnLine Media Daily offers more details if you need them. Did you notice how little attention this second wave of deception generated?

If nothing else, the story shows us the importance of being first! The Edelman-Walmart mess, written about here and everywhere last month, stole the headlines on the “flogging” issue. Blogs that lie to us aren’t big news anymore. Ho hum!

Ya gotta worry about the long-term consequences for the blogosphere, where trust and transparency rule. I’d like to move on from this whole mess, but I’m not sure we can.

Ohio company shows smokers the door

Tobacco companies and anti-smoking forces are waging a fierce public relations battle here in Ohio. It’s all leading up to Tuesday’s election, when voters will decide whether to maintain the smoking status quo (Issue 4, backed by big tobacco) or to ban smoking in public places entirely (Issue 5).

Smokers may win one more round in my state, but we all know that tobacco is soon to become a complete social taboo — if not this year, very soon. It’s already happened in California, New York and 11 other states in one form or another. Eventually our stodgy Midwestern Buckeyes will come around.

In the central Ohio town of Marysville, one company has taken the campaign against smoking to an entirely new level. Since late last year, the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has been rolling out a complete ban on smoking among its workforce — on or off the job. That’s right. You may not be a smoker and work for Scotts. And if nicotine shows up in random testing, you could see a pink slip in your mailbox.