Keep politics out of mass consumer advertising and product PR
Proctor and Gamble's Gillette has released a commercial promoting razor blades, which sends out the message that men are such a menace to women that they must be tamed. But no matter what one thinks of #MeToo, we should all question the politicisation of mass consumer advertising.
How social media became toxic
Do you remember the advent of social media when they were praised for being disruptive, positive innovations? The talk was of long tails, wisdom of crowds, the end of old-fashioned business models or statements like the new world is bottom up – or flat – rather than top down.
Say no to the PC mob: bring back darts sexy walk-on girls
Following the scandal over the groping of girls at the Presidents Club’s reportedly debauched charity gala at the Dorchester Hotel in London, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) has axed its leggy showgirls.
Give a big fat no to the concept of unconscious bias
The concept of unconscious bias suggests that an audience's supposedly irrational viewpoints require a psychological solution to a pathological condition. This is a useful prejudice when campaigners, corporations and governments find persuasion, even when using their best arguments, ineffective.
Lessons from Paperchase's retreat: corporate cowardice predates social media
A few thousand tabloid-loathing Stop Funding Hate campaigners, exercising their wrist action on Twitter and Facebook, have persuaded Paperchase to
Opinion piece on the demise of Bell Pottinger
Regardless of the strength or sustainability of a client's messaging, every client, even an oligarch or dictator, is entitled to pay someone to formulate them in the best possible light. Whatever the client or issue a PR tackles, though, telling lies and resorting to deception is not acceptable.
Google is wrong to shut down debate about diversity
A Google employee who wrote a controversial memo, which accused the "don't be evil" employer of “silencing” views and creating an authoritarian “ideological echo chamber”, has had his points proven by getting fired.
Goodbye Governance, We Don't Need You Any More
By suggesting we do away with governance, I'm not advocating a descent into anarchy, where everyone can do whatever they choose. They won’t. They will still have a specific role or job to play. However, within the broader focus of what a company is trying to achieve — increase market share, standard
PR manifesto for combatting the Culture Wars
Under pressure from the Culture Wars the PR business is mostly leading clients in the wrong direction. So here is a PR manifesto that offers ten recommendations - on the key issues of the day - to make corporate culture and communication more robust and sustainable.
Bell Pottinger South Africa, a reality check
What we are not being told in the media is that it was not the ruling ANC or Bell Pottinger which first used the term white monopoly capitalism. It was coined by the South African Communist Party, long-time partners of the ANC, during the apartheid era. There's humbug at play.
Contribution to "global conversation on global public relations standards"
Professor Anne Gregory and Jean Valin have asked readers of PR Conversations (PRC) to get involved in their project to produce a Global Body of Knowledge
The PR industry's part in professor Tim Hunt's downfall
Health warning 21st July, 2015: I made two errors in this piece that were pointed out by the author (Louise
