Word on the Street

Most of the time I’m very proud to identify myself as a PR guy. Then some scandal involving a celebrity happens and I’m sorely tempted to turn off the television set for a week just so I can avoid seeing any other PR guys. Take, for example, the affair of the famous golfer that broke in November. Almost instantly every cable network trotted out “PR experts,” all of whom were doling out the same rather insipid advice about how the celebrity should handle the situation. It occurred to me that most professionals in any category would never dream of offering unasked-for counsel to a total stranger on national television. Todd Defren has recently compared the respective standing of lawyers and PR people in the public eye. The problem is that the Clarence Darrows of all professions are less likely to be recognized than their Nancy Graces. And PR is all about publicity, so perhaps it’s inevitable that more than its share of practitioners assume the role of professional busybodies—forgetting perhaps that busybodies aren’t liked or respected very much by anyone. The nadir of this latest scandal from my point of view was this blog post, in which the author, not content to provide unasked for advice to the golfing star, directs his words of wisdom at the same time to the President of the United States. Appalling as that is, on so many levels, I’m sure the guy was only trying to be helpful. Yet PR as a profession can only gain in stature when more of its practitioners learn that sometimes the most helpful thing is to keep their own counsel and butt out of situations that are none of their business.

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