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Common Sense PR

Archive for the ‘Ethics’ Category

May 14th, 2008

Damage Control: Tim Horton’s Reverses Firing for Doughnut Hole Freebie

What a schmozzle.
The recent uproar after the firing of an employee over her decision to give a free bite-sized snack to the young child of a customer lead the Tim Horton’s chain to unfire her.
The optics of firing a single mother for an act of kindness put the fast food chain in a bind.
Is […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 2 comments

May 14th, 2008

Podcast Advertorials and Infomercials Aren’t Conversational in any Way I Recognize

If a little bit of advertiser involvement in podcasts is good, a lot is better, right?
No!
Let’s look at two business podcasts and how they treat their advertisers (or “sponsors”, if you want to pretend it’s not advertising).
On For Immediate Release, Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson talked openly about adding commentaries prepared and voiced by their […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 26 comments

April 30th, 2008

Some Lawyers Know Dick about PR

Lawyers are often very good at helping organizations achieve their goals. But when it comes to plotting effective public relations moves, they too often forget how that legal action can be seen as aggressive overkill to the average person.
Case in point, the chill effect attempted by lawyer Clifford Shoemaker on behalf of his clients, who […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 0 comments

April 26th, 2008

This Page Intentionally Left Blank

You see this all the time.
A page that is left blank for the print version of a publication (the reverse side of the table of contents, for example) is left as a blank page in the online PDF version.
This helps maintain consistent pagination between the two versions, but what a waste. Most people don’t […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 2 comments

April 26th, 2008

The Hazards of Taking Kids’ Photos

A photographer is spotted taking pictures of children. Someone worries he might be up to something, and calls the police.
They track him on community security cameras and a cop pulls him over.
His question, after being stopped for possibly taking inappropriate photos: Why didn’t the person just ask him why he was taking pictures?
This is […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 1 comment

April 15th, 2008

China Spins, World Applies PRessure

A student of public relations can see a belligerent pattern in the Chinese government’s reputation defence during the past year.
Accusation: producing unsafe productsDefence: blame sloppy manufacturing specs provided by clients.
Accusation: human rights abuses in TibetDefence: allege Dalai Lama’s of conspiracy to cause deaths of ethnic Chinese
Tactic:  Olympic Torch Relay protestsDefence:  glorify noble athletes standing […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 3 comments

April 10th, 2008

Olympic Torch Relay: Virtual Edition

Talk about having your symbolism hijacked. The Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee have seen the usual positive tenor of the international torch relay degenerate into a platform for political protests over human rights.
The challenge now is to pretend that the torch is being peacefully passed from hand-to-hand with the world looking on […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 0 comments

April 7th, 2008

Greenwashing Critique from Down Under

After my send-up of the dangers of Earth Hour last week, I got pinged about an excellent critique of the world-wide event.
The source - a high school in Australia - was a bit unexpected, but the quality of commentary is excellent. Here’s a quote from Greenwashing - Raising Awareness or Breeding Complacency?, by Jimmy […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 0 comments

April 6th, 2008

Identity Hijacking for Humor - How Far Is Too Far?

Stealing someone’s identity to defraud someone is a serious criminal offence.
Borrowing someone’s identity to take the piss out of them, as the Brits would say, is a time-tested satirical technique.
The skewerer gets props for cleverness. But the one who is skewered often also gains visibility, possibly a wider audience, and kudos for having a sense […]

By Eric Eggertson -- 5 comments

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