(This week, PR News editors Phil Hall and Aaron Jenkins carve up a pastry-inspired PR campaign.)
AARON: Rear-end a Pennsylvania motorist this summer and you just might end up with shoofly pie on your bumper. To rev up tourism, the Pennsylvania Office of
Tourism held an official bumper sticker contest in May that allowed people to enter snappy messages and then vote for their favorite one from 16 designs. Hundreds of people
submitted ideas, which ranged from the patriotic ("Declare your independence. Visit PA") to tongue-in-cheek ("I just ran over the second most popular groundhog in Pennsylvania").
The winning entry, which was announced on July 4th, was a tip-of-the-hat to the state's German heritage: "I break for Shoofly Pie." The message (in white text with a blue
background) rests above the smaller "Great roadtrips at visitPa.com." As eye-catching as this is, does the Keystone State's official bumper sticker have any PR mileage?
PHIL: That's a problem with PR rooted in audience voting: Yes, you get a ton of people who want to be involved, but at the end of the happening it often seems that a
weak choice triumphs. Maybe some Pennsylvanians will find that winning slogan amusing, but I suspect it will draw a blank stare from the majority of people outside of the
Keystone State (and perhaps from plenty within the state). Involving non-professionals in the PR decision-making process is about as tasty as...well, as shoofly pie.
AARON: That all depends on who's making the gooey dessert (nothing beats Grandma's shoofly). But you can't fault the state's tourism department for taking the
democratic approach and letting the people have a voice. However, when people see this bumper sticker, will it really drive them to visit the department's Web site or cause them
to veer off the road in hysterics? Since the state is known for much more than an obscure pie (birthplace of independence, for one), why not open it up to include the second and
third most popular designs? Then again, it is only a bumper sticker.
PHIL: You're right, Pennsylvania is not lacking in history and culture (Ben Franklin, Thomas Eakins, Larry from the Three Stooges and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater
are local icons). So why honor it with a dessert that tastes like wallpaper paste? Personally, I'll break for lunch at Old Original Bookbinder's in Philadelphia - a
genuine Pennsylvania culinary landmark!