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The World’s Worst Press Release
Tip of today: if you don’t know how to write a great press release, don’t do it at all.
PRESS RELEASE TIPS
1. Many PR people advise companies writing one press release a month, if not for anything else, but to post at free press release distribution service sites to get back linking to the company’s website and using relevant key words to get a good Google spot.
2. They also say “don’t do a press release, if you don’t have anything new to say”. This get tricky, huh? You’re suppose to get “news” out, but if you don’t really have news, you still should “get your name out” anyway.
3. Another great tip is to use statistical numbers by some well known source. Or state a problem and offer a solution.
4. Other tip PR folks like to say “use a current angle” in your press release, something to tie in with current news. For example now would be a great time for companies pitch “frugal Holiday gifts” since the economy has made everyone thinking how we can afford Christmas this year.
THE HOME BACK-UP PROTECTION COMPANY FOLLOWED ALL THESE TIPS BUT WROTE THE WORST PRESS RELEASE OF OUR TIMES
Using a good press release distributing site, stating statistical numbers, and showing a need and a solution, using a current angle - sounds like there is a lot the company did right in the press release.
But it is ALL WRONG and caused the company a tremendous amount of Very Bad PR and I among many other PR people vote this the Worst Press Release of Our Times.
The Back-Up company sells bedside shotgun racks (and I want to make sure you understand I hate the product, but it would be a whole another blog post why I think the whole product is all wrong, let’s now just discuss this one particular press release) and yesterday The Back-Up company released a press release that has been raising eyebrows among the PR people world wide.
The press release was written by using all the tips above, and the “current angle” was exploiting the horrible triple murder than happened for Jennifer Hudson’s family. What a distasteful and despicable thing to do - use someone’s tragedy to sell your products!
The original press release is copied here, because it was starting to stir the Bad PR pot for the company, the original press release was changed while I was still writing this blog post.
Too late for Back-Up company though - Chicago Tribune already published the story - and many bloggers, me included had already copied the original press release:
COULD A BEDSIDE SHOTGUN RACK HAVE SAVED JENNIFER HUDSON’S FAMILY FROM TRAGIC DEATH?
Chicago, IL (MMD Newswire) October 28, 2008 — Tragedy strikes in a Chicago home leaving 3 people dead and an Oscar winner forced to identify the bodies of her family.
Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother were gunned down in their home Friday. Could an invaluable device have saved their lives?
It’s called The BackUp and it is a bedside shotgun rack. Everyday, there are over 8,000 home invasions in America, many resulting in assault, rape, and murder. That’s according to a report by the US Department of Justice.
Whether it is someone known or a stranger entering the home, too many people in this country are paying with their lives during these home invasions. The Hudson family is just one of far too many Americans gunned down in their own home.
What can be done? Law enforcement and the government aren’t solving the problem. So law-abiding citizens are now forced to take their safety, security, and life into their own hands.
Shotguns are often weapons of choice at home because of their deterrent effect on assailants, their close-range stopping power, their affordability and their reduced risk of injury to innocent others from stray shot. But the problem is storing them in a place where you don’t have to turn your back on your assailant. Propped in the corner or under the bed takes valuable time to get to, and could cost you your life.
But now there is a solution. The BackUp makes them easily accessible during a time of need. Racked between the mattresses, The BackUp offers immediate access to the homeowner’s shotgun: in the hands, cocked and ready to defend in 2 seconds.
Home Security Expert Howard Pitts says, “A shotgun provides the most effective protection against home invasion. And The BackUp is a much safer and secure solution than having a shotgun in the corner or under the bed.” The BackUp is made in America and the adjustable 2-foot by 2-foot rack assembles in minutes.
For more information, visit the website at www.the-backup.com Available for immediate interview, contact company president John Peters at (612) 605-3613 or email at press-info@the-backup.com.
Interestingly Chicago Tribune run a follow up story with an interview of the president of the shotgun rack company Home Back-Up Protection, A. John Peters, who said “that he didn’t issue the news release to capitalize on the Chicago family’s pain” and the interview continues “asked if he thought the ad might offend people, Peters said he expected it might. “Just having a gun rack offends a lot of people.””
But changing the press release and trying to say it wasn’t exploiting, which it clearly was, is all too late. Changing the press release just tells that the company knew it was wrong to do it the first place, and is now trying to cover their bases.
The blogs are running wild with this story. The damage for The Back-Up is already done.
“Good news” is that the Home Back-Up Protection company will get the amount of PR they ever imagined - people even say they deserve all the bad PR they can get, and they sure are getting a full load of it.
5 People have left comments on this post
Oct 29, 2008 - 10:10:42‘Hideous’ doesn’t even begin to describe. Combining poor taste, poor timing and poor judgement - even bad PR is more exposure than they should be given.
Thanks for the update on the worst PR pitch possibly of all time! This company may well be heading for ruin employing exploitive practices such as using this family’s tragedy for their own gain.
My feeling is that by stooping this low, they deserve whatever the consequences will be.
Great post, Katja. As you rightly say, if the release wasn’t wrong in the first place, why all the backtracking now? If you feel you’re in the right, you stick to your guns.
Clearly this release was never in the right - it’s a shame it had to create so much bad press to get it changed at all.
Wow, that is a bad press release. Just really insensitive. It points out that the adage even bad press is good for business is not always true.
My tips for better news releases:
1. Please include the time, date, place.
2. Please spell things correctly.
3. Please include a contact person and please tell that contact person that the media will be calling him or her. Also, please have that contact person know something beyond what is on the release or at least have a willingness/ability to find out more.
4. Please spend five minutes to figure out who is the right person to send your release to. Many of your recipients get hundreds a week.
As a current journalism student, we are constantly being critiqued on our press releases for real and imaginary clients. Thankfully, I can say that we haven’t had a press release in such poor taste come up in any of my classes.
This gives me a little spark of hope that if this is the current standard for public relations in the professional world, it may be easier than I thought to get a job…
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