Comments on: Two alternatives to the PR black lists

By: brainadmin

brainadmin — Wed, 14 May 2008 09:45:17 +0000

@Steph – I wish that I could take credit for the phrase “interruption marketing”, but I think it goes back to Seth Godin.

By: Steph

Steph — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:27:18 +0000

I like the phrase "interruption marketing." That's exactly what it is. Check out Photos & phlowers from Steph

By: brainadmin

brainadmin — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:43:52 +0000

@Steph – quite eloquent. As I said above, these two ideas are probably only bandaids, but they could be another step in a discussion. This problem is much larger than either the PR or blogger camps and is really about spam, cold-calling, and interruption marketing (?) in general, in my opinion.

Your comments about the potential abuse of the E-mail medium is kind of like the issue where any public space is not only considered to be a target for littering, but advertising as well.

By: Steph

Steph — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:31:32 +0000

Unfortunately, the problem is that we have a generation of PR practitioners who believe that because a medium exists to reach people, they are entitled to use it. It does not occur to them that they are wasting someone’s time because “Hey, it’s just one stupid e-mail, so wtf, just delete it if you don’t want it.” The deluge is not their responsibility….

To me, it’s the same as individual smokers who toss their butts out the window of the car. “Oh come on, it’s not litter, it’s just one little cigarette butt.” There is a sense of entitlement that their convenience is more important than anything external.

In either case, making the offenders’ names public has no effect because in the offenders’ minds, we just don’t ‘get it.’ There are enough people who share their sense of entitlement that they can always find a handful who say, “Yeah, like hitting the delete key is so hard, right?” or “Yeah, like anybody can even see one little cigarette butt on the side of the highway.” And although your ideas are optimistically brilliant, they will have the same effect as designating a stretch of highway as a “Scenic Corridor.” Those who care about ’scenic’ are already not throwing their trash out the window; renaming the road will not change the others’ habits.

Telemarketers stopped calling *only* because the law has some teeth, a physical threat to their pocketbook, followed by actual enforcement. The process will only stop when these PR practitioners’ *customers* start to lose business and fire the PR folks — and even then, the PR folks will just find some other like-minded customer who feels entitled to spray his/her message without thinking.

Oh heavens, I’m usually such an optimist… but “responsibility” is the dark side of “freedom.” Too many people believe they are entitled to use any public space in any way they want: spamming the Internet, tossing trash out the window, playing the boombox at full volume in the middle of a public park, etc. Voluntary systems work on pride/peer-pressure. At some point — as in now — there are too many “entitled” peers to make any voluntary system work, because there is no sense of ’shame’ at doing these things.

Check out Photos & phlowers from Steph

By: brainadmin

brainadmin — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:34:57 +0000

@Jason – thanks. I keep coming back to the idea that bad pitches are very similar to getting cold-called by a telemarketer, which is what made me think of the “no pitch” list. The Blogger’s Code of Ethics sounds like a good idea, too.

Hopefully this takes the conversation a bit further.

By: Jason Falls

Jason Falls — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:01:12 +0000

Great ideas, Mark. I agree they are just band aids, but certainly are better approaches than the public embarrassment of PR firms and practitioners. And frankly, your ideas don’t necessarily have to be unenforceable. If IABC and PRSA could get their heads out of their antiquated asses and realize social media is having a profound effect on their businesses, they could administer something simple, like Ogilvy’s Blogger Code of Ethics as a membership guideline. If every member were forced to take it to heart and reassess how they pitch media members, particularly bloggers, there would be a quick turnabout and wholesale in-box noise reduction. No, it wouldn’t totally eliminate the problem, but it would make a huge dent. Nice work.