Any PR professional involved in book publishing can confirm the challenges of getting people aware of new titles. This week, we hopscotch from Louisiana to Tanzania to
Australia to judge campaigns regarding the availability of books (or in the case of the Australian example, making sure people don't read certain books). Are these examples of
best-selling Good PR or by-the-book Bad PR?
| The PR Focus | Good PR or Bad PR? |
| On July 14, the public library system in Shreveport, LA, invited youngsters to meet an unusual visiting celebrity: Daisy Minor, a pot-
bellied pig. The pig isn't famous for doing anything - it belongs to Paul and Victoria Minor of Bristol, CT, who are touring the nation's library with Daisy with the goal of encouraging reading among kids. The name of the Daisy Minor tour: Pig Out on Reading. |
GOOD PR: Admittedly, we were tempted to give this a Bad PR vote (the idea of bringing barnyard animals to a library is fairly peculiar). But
despite the oddity of the campaign, it worked. The porcine ambassador of reading attracted a large number of Shreveport kids into the library, which is no mean feat in this age of digital distractions. For that, we give Daisy a bibliophile's salute. |
| It is a long way from Lake Zurich, MN, to Tanzania, but Steve and Paulie Kutschat are bridging that divide with used books. The couple
created Bookfriends, a nonprofit dedicated to collecting used books for donation to underfunded secondary schools in that African country. School and library districts in Minnesota have responded to the Kutschats by donating their outdated and used books, and the Kutschats plan to expand their work to other African countries. |
GOOD PR: We were also hesitant about praising this effort, since there are many schools and libaries in America that need books and because
English is not the primary language of Tanzania (although fluency skills are required before entering secondary schools there). Still, the good intentions and indefatigable work of the Kutschats is difficult to scorn, particularly when it comes to the price of this project (shipping 23,000 pounds of books costs $8,000). |
| On July 11, the Australian government banned the sale of "Defence of the Muslim Lands" and "Join the Caravan," two books that encourage
young Muslims to travel to Afghanistan and become suicide bombers. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock defended the ban, saying freedom of speech laws do not protect "material that urges or advocates acts of terrorism against that society." |
GOOD PR: Australia is no stranger to Islamic fundamentalist terrorism (the 2002 Bali bombings took the lives of 88 Australian tourists), so
clearly the issue resonates down under. Local Muslim groups were publicly divided on the ban, but was no complaint from Australian civil libertarians. Quite frankly, the absence of such material from Australia (or anywhere) is no great loss. |