What do the U.S. military, a "Golden Girl" and an Irish rock star-turned-humanitarian have in common? Relatively little, except that all were recently the focus of high
profile PR campaigns. But high profile PR doesn't automatically generate success. Let's focus on a quartet of recent well-publicized activities to determine what success (if
any) was achieved.
| The PR Campaign | Good PR or Bad PR? |
|---|---|
| Twenty-one members of Hawaii's Oahu Army Reserve are being sent on a PR mission to the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in
Cuba. They are being assigned to the 305th Press Camp Headquarters and will produce a weekly newspaper and original radio and TV programming, plus they will serve as a liaison to visiting journalists touring the facility, which currently holds 500 detainees. |
BAD PR: Not much transparency here (the military pretty much acknowledges Guantanamo's negative image) or professional know-how (few of the
Hawaiian reservists have PR experience). And one doesn't need to be a cynic to notice the proposed PR work smacks of censorship: all video footage shot by visiting journalists must be screened by the military before it is broadcast and the Guantanamo detainees cannot be interviewed. |
| The Los Angeles Zoo paid tribute to veteran TV actress and long-time animal rights activist Betty White by naming her "Ambassador to the
Animals" in a February 20 ceremony. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was on hand as White was presented a bronze plaque that will be affixed to zoo's gorilla exhibit (White's favorite animal is the gorilla). Mayor Villaraigosa effusively praised White, citing her most beloved role by noting: "She is a 'Golden Girl' in every sense of the word." |
GOOD PR: Celebrities, politicians, animals - talk about hitting the trifecta. But the real PR beneficiary is the Los Angeles Zoo, which earned
glowing media coverage for its unique "Ambassador to the Animals" honor that helped to squash negative attention it carried a week when another TV star, game show host Bob Barker, publicly called on the zoo to shut down its elephant exhibit and send its three ailing pachyderms to a more spacious wildlife sanctuary. |
| Bono, the frontman for the rock band U2, continued his do-gooding work in Brazil last month by offering to donate a guitar for an auction
designed to raise funds for Brazil's Zero Hunger campaign (which pledges to eradicate hunger throughout Brazil by the end of the year). The details of the auction have not yet been determined. Bono made his announcement following a meeting last month with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio da Silva, which touched on issues ranging from local poverty to renewable energy. |
BAD PR: This is bad PR for three reasons: Bono's auction idea is not original - rocker Lenny Kravitz made the same gesture in 2005 and raised
approximately $152,000 - and Bono's announcement at a Sao Paulo concert raised boos with two major errors: Mentioning Argentina (Brazil's long-standing arch-rival) and showing a photo of the Brazilian president with his U.S. counterpart (who is also not a Brazilian favorite). Finally, the concert was overshadowed that week by a Rolling Stones show in Rio that attracted one million fans (U2 only attracted 70,000). |