The PR Blog

The images of devastation are leaving quite an impression on the public. The cruise ship on its side sunken in the waters off the Italy coast have caused lots of folks to run scared. Bookings on cruise ships have apparently sunk to extreme lows. The cruise ship company feeling the hurt most: Carnival. The Costa Concordia is owned by Carnival Corp. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. reports earnings later this week and travel agents are not expecting good news. The concern by the public: safety. They are questioning the safety of cruise lines. And they are questioning what would happen if there were an emergency on their cruise. Sure there are people who think the cruise ship they go on will meet the same fate. But I don’t think the majority really believe...

Politics is a dirty game. In the race to be the Republican nominee, taking statements out of context seems to be fair game as the end game is all that appears to matter. Yesterday, just one day before the New Hampshire primary, Mitt Romney said “I like being able to fire people.” He said it in the context of health care; that he wants to be able to fire his health care company if it is not performing. Mitt Romney was criticizing Obamacare. But boy did his opponents pounce. Not only the Democrats. But also his Republican challengers. They took the comment out of context saying he enjoys firing people period. They connected Romney’s words to his business experience and said it reinforces their contention that Romney enjoys firing people and...

Samira Amen-Fawaz and her husband Ali Fawaz (Courtesy TLC). Oh, when will these companies stop making boneheaded mistakes by falling into the threat-of-boycott trap. Lowe’s is under fire for pulling its ads on “All-American Muslim.” California state senator Ted Lieu jumped in battle demanding that Lowe’s restore its advertising, calling the move to stop advertising “bigoted, shameful, and un-American.” Pressure mounted from the Florida Family Association to pull ads from the show claiming that “All-American Muslim” was nothing more than “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” “All-American...

Have you seen it? Ooh, it’s painful. Kris Humphries, the soon-to-be ex-husband of Kim Kardashian, had his first post-breakup interview. And let’s just say it didn’t go very well. MSNBC reports that he’s livid that most of the questions revolved around the reality show and Kim Kardashian. He apparently was under the impression that he was there to talk about his foundation and basketball. This is exhibit A of why you want someone like me and our Agency in the picture. To say that network morning TV is dog-eat-dog would be an understatement. The competition is beyond fierce. And bookings are more important than gold. I’m going to take a very educated stab at what happened. The producers at Good Morning America sold Kris Humphries on...

It’s been an exciting two-day ordeal. Perhaps you heard about it… A cat with only three legs came to the doors of our Tampa corporate headquarters. We’d seen the cat before. She is a real trooper and doesn’t appear to let her disability stand in the way of living a full life. Employees were concerned about the cat on the streets and called local animal and governmental organizations to see what could be done. But none could guarantee that the cat would be placed in a home and could in fact be put down. So we didn’t want to do that! Then the cat simply disappeared. We couldn’t locate that cat. The cat with three legs suddenly reappeared a few days ago at our door. This time we decided to do something unusual. Instead of throwing...

Let me do what Greta Van Susteren apparently neglected to do: disclose my relationship. I have spoken and emailed with Greta Van Susteren on several occasions. I have clients who have been on her show. And I have clients whom Greta has wanted to be on her show. So I have spoken with her, sometimes at length. I would not call her a friend. I like her. I like her toughness. I like her style. And I believe she is a genuinely good, honest person. And that is why I am disappointed to hear that she failed to disclose on air her connection to GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain. Her husband, a Washington D.C. attorney, is an unpaid adviser to Herman Cain. That relationship apparently helped her land a huge exclusive: the only interview with Herman Cain’s...