Category: Media commentary
August 8th, 2007

Eco-trends spur eco-plosion of eco-tastic eco-prefixes

Why label something “green” or “sustainable” when all you have to do is tack an “eco” to the front of your noun or adjective of choice? We’ve got eco-tourism, eco-modernism, eco-consumerism, eco-activism. And thanks to Mark Peters over at Grist, we’ve learned some juicy new ones – eco-porn, ecosynergy, eco-mafia, and ecosexual (among others).

Ecopornguy_2According to Peters’ post and the Oxford English Dictionary, “eco” detached from “ecology” as early as 1969. But only recently has the use of “eco” as a prefix become prolific enough to be truly annoying.

The problem (as we’ve faced with some of our LOHAS clients) in naming a company or product “Eco-Something” is that this fad word is quickly becoming used and abused. Five years from now, the “Eco-Something” will simply be a tired marker of a passing trend (that has now either dwindled off or become ubiquitous).

Despite the dismay “Eco-Something” companies may be facing, we can still have a good chuckle at some of these great eco-excerpts:

Ecosynergy: There’s not a fouler corporate buzzword than "synergy." I once had a
co-worker who used the word with such frequent, punishing regularity
that I suspect he was raised on PowerPoint presentations and
cappuccinos rather than Dr. Seuss and mother’s milk. Everything he, I,
or my uncle did created synergy. Meetings had synergy. Lunch had
synergy. Paper clips had synergy. Taken literally, ecosynergy is likely
a fine thing, but if I see this or another variation of synergy (What’s
next? Franken-synergy? Choco-synergy?) one more time I fear my
self-inflicted lobotomy will have little synergy.

Ecosexual: If the word "metrosexual" makes you want to remove your own eyeballs
with a spork, you’d better hide the silverware. Ecosexuals, apparently,
are hip young urbanites who care about recycling as much as hair
products. Instead of man-hands and eating peas one at a time, their
deal-breakers are non-recyclers and anti-eco-deodorant. Did the world
really need another smarmy buzzword?

(See the rest here) Photo from Grist/iStockphoto

June 28th, 2007

How NOT to decorate – unless you’re already blind

Somewhere, a PR account executive on the Post-it account is laughing. Today’s House and Home section of The New York Times is a mash note to the stickies that increasingly define our lives. While this kind of piece is fairly typical – as the lighter sections of the paper aren’t exactly known for their journalistic aplomb – did they really have to use this photo to illustrate the love story?

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June 7th, 2007

Spelling bee champ MORE annoying than you might’ve assumed


Spellingbee jerkClick Here for more great videos and pictures!
Courtesy of Gawker comes a classic example of why we media train our PR clients. Although an argument could be made that CNN’s Kiran Chetry is the one who needs a little more training. After all, she let an thirteen-year-old homeschooler take control of an interview. Damn kids!

Update: Our friends at SFist have an update on the Bay Area champs’ home field activities as well. Of course, throwing out the first pitch is not nearly as entertaining as smacking down a CNN anchorbot.

May 17th, 2007

PR Gone Wild!

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Talk about a media frenzy – ‘Paris Hilton’ and ‘jail’– two words that have sent the press through the roof.

Has PR gone wild or something?

Judge for yourself – here are some of the facts:

CNN (Nancy Grace Show) replaying the coverage of her trial like it was OJ Simpson’s murder case.

– Google searches turning up more than 5,000 media hits with the magic words – ‘Paris Hilton’ and ‘Jail’.

– MySpace pages like Rescue Paris dedicated to supporting the superstar.

Can this desperate PR crusade keep Paris out of the slammer?  This is where the power of PR comes into play – according to The Associated Press article:

“Paris is distraught and traumatized as a consequence of the findings at the May 4 hearing … and her fear of incarceration."

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It might take more than making tear jerking petitions with statements like “Paris provides beauty and excitement to our otherwise mundane lives,” and dressing in conservative courthouse couture to keep her from living the life behind bars.

It seems the best PR move might be to take the ‘when life hands you lemons, make lemonade’ kinda approach and turn Paris’s Jail sentence into the next season of the Simple Life: “Paris & Nicole: I Know What You Did in the Slammer” (I think Nicole has a few charges she can do some time for as well).

Talk about a great media opportunity… Now, that’s PR folks!

May 15th, 2007

Rust never sleeps; reporters do

If you’ve ever wondered why you often start your week reading less-than-compelling information about this study or that over your corn flakes, Jack Shafer at Slate has the answer. Reporters don’t “do” weekends – unless you count a couple of sculling sessions at the local watering hole.

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It seems a few press agents will “pre-release” information that’s set to “officially” release the following Monday to selected reporters on Friday so they don’t have to go out and do any actual reporting on Saturday and Sunday.

This is why, though scandal after scandal has rocked the executive branch lately and 3,400 American service people have died in Iraq, the story that assaulted readers from all sides yesterday had to do with the prevelance of people shopping for clothing online.

Enjoy your new underwear!