The PR Studio

The correct answer is… FALSE.

On February 7, 2012, an online pawn shop, which I refuse to name and would like everyone else to jump on board with that philosophy, orchestrated a horribly mean-spirited, misguided and all around thoughtless PR stunt. The pawn shop dumped a pile of Butterfingers in the middle of Boston’s Copley Square accompanied by a sign “thanking”  Wes Welker.  The company later explained that it was a “joke” referencing the Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker’s missed catch at the Super Bowl. It was supposed to be a “publicity stunt”. There are so many things wrong with this that I am not quite sure where I want to start so in no particular order here are my thoughts:

• It always amazes me when a group of people sit in a room and come up with a terrible idea and no one says: “Hey, I’m sorry but this is a terrible idea.” I always applaud the person in the room who starts a sentence with “Can I play the devil’s advocate?” My answer is always an enthusiastic “yes, please do!” because every idea room needs at least one devil’s advocate. I hope this pawn shop immediately posted a job position on Monster.com for ‘Devil’s Advocate’ after this disastrous stunt gone wrong.
•  This shop’s PR agency is from… you guessed it… New York. OK, this is all coming together now right? You mean to tell me that no one on that PR team knows someone in New England that they could have called as a focus group of sorts to take a quick poll? That one phone call to gauge the level of appropriateness would have saved this brand the irreversible damage caused by this ill-conceived move.
• I believe in a swift public apology when appropriate, but it didn’t work in this case. Apologies work when the apologizer has something redeeming or some equity with an audience. This was some out-of-town pawn shop trying to apologize to a community of tired, cranky and heart-broken Pats fans. Did the CEO and his PR firm really think that his apology would turn the tide? Make us all run to his website and buy a used gold chain?
• How unfair was it for them to drag Butterfinger into this? What did Butterfinger ever do to anyone? Kudos to the candy company for not skipping a beat and coming out strong immediately saying that they had nothing to do with that stunt and had no idea what the pawn shop was planning.
• Great move by the City of Boston to immediately slap them with an illegal dumping fine.
• If they really wanted to apologize they should make a sizeable monetary donation to one of Boston’s youth football programs.

So this brings us back to the original question. In these particular types of scenarios, we have all heard the over-used and untrue statement uttered  ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity’. Yes, there absolutely is and there is no better example than this. They may have introduced the name of their company to people who have never heard of them before. They may have gotten that national media coverage that so many companies and PR firms desire. They may have seen a huge curiosity boost to their website in the following days. This is all fleeting attention that will not result in any sustained increased business. This did not build any brand loyalty or endear any potential new customers. I think even Giants fans would agree with that.

Lastly, I urge publicists to take heed of this huge DON’T next time you are seeking a unique way to garner attention for your client.

** Notice that I used the spray paint tool to black out their name.