Thursday, July 27, 2006

Why We Get So Little Respect.

Would You Rather Sell Second Hand Cars than Call on Editors?

There are a number of professions that get no respect in this country and ours, the PR practitioner, is high on the list. I’ll get into the others in a moment, but for now let’s look at what we do, why we do it and why it’s important to keep on doing it.

We create the opportunity for dialog around any topic. We offer a defense for what some may consider the indefensible and set up the parameters for intelligent options to the acceptable situation. Just because some of us have the luxury to work with small cuddly animals, widows and orphans and Gameboys is no reason to look down on the rest of the world.

My most exciting assignment ever was acting as the spokesperson for the Canadian Nuclear Energy business during the days of the Three Mile Island incident. For those of you who might not have been alive at the time, the incident was caused by the operators doing everything in their power to blow up the reactor. Every stupid move in the book was tried, and yet the system held, no one was hurt and the reactor was scrammed with a lot of white knuckles, anxious moments and very bad press. In a later blog I will expound on how to really handle crisis PR, but for now, suffice it to say that I was one of the most unpopular people around.

For three weeks I was accused of all the crimes possible, and I learned a valuable lesson. As long as a fanatic is within sight of a camera or a microphone he can be very obnoxious. The bigger the name, the dumber the attitude. I recall Amory Lovins asking why I was trying to kill his children. An excellent question because at the time I recall thinking that his kids were safe, it was he who was in jeopardy.

The PR person’s job there was to defend nuclear energy in the face of overwhelming attacks. If we had done a better job at that time maybe we would not be faced with the level of global warming and pollution we now are facing. In an ironic twist of fate, nuclear power is now being touted as a clean energy source.

So why take on the unpopular projects? To start with, they may be unpopular, but they are very often vital. They are also a whole lot more fun to handle. There is much more satisfaction in placing an 8-Bit microcontroller in a publication which leads to a breakthrough product being designed than in placing a popular beer in a travel publication.

Finally, unlike the used car salesman, there are no lemon laws in PR. There is only the FD regulations and being able to face oneself in the morning. That’s an occupational hazard in any job on the edge.

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