Of all the sins of the public relations industry, and trust me there are many, the worst is the widely held belief that in spreading our clients’ messages, we are somehow doing the public good.
This is the sin of arrogance.
If you believe you can control the message, you’ve got to be a little arrogant anyway. Because after all, it’s not spin, it’s public education.
So in a nice twist of serendipity, this morning the Bulldog Reporter leaves this fine example of missing the fucking point in my email inbox.
The author, Scott Castleman, is general manager of LDC-Inc., which decribes itself as “a grassroots advocacy technology provider.” I can’t quite figure out from their web site exactly what technologies they are providing and to whom… but they do have a nice article there about sending school supplies to kids displaced by Katrina, so I guess they know something about PR.
Disclosure, my son’s school participated in the backpack program, they just didn’t pat themselves on the back over it.
So this morning while I’m waking up in a hotel full of PR people gathered to talk about the impact of blogs and social media on our business, I’m delighted to read such clue-less-ness as this:
But for those who see civic salvation in blogs, beware. Yes, the blogosphere makes it more difficult for institutions to hide their transgressions—and amateur reporters are getting in some good shots—but salvation may be damnation in disguise.
While blogs may make it more difficult for institutions to hide from consequences, they also make it easy for their consumers to hide from serious thinking. There is a good discussion of this with respect to political consumerism in political election communications in James A. Barnes’ “Not Your Father’s Election”
Did you get that? Consumers are dumb. They might not care what your client is trying to sell them. They might have their own opinions, priorities, etc. Silly people with your own lives, you need to be spun… excuse me… educated.
Just in case your brain hasn’t exploded yet, he concludes with this gem:
Blogs are not a cause; they are not an effect. We advise against jumping into the communications tool of the moment just because it’s a craze. Doing so seems backward to us. Instead, we recommend increasing investment in real advocacy education and civic debate in order to achieve goals.
Did you get that? Blogs are the latest craze.
Everyone do a shot.
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