Turning The Appalling Into The Despicable
from the bad-taste dept
We already spoke about the bad decision of spammers to send out spam trying to take advantage of last week’s tragedy, but how about real companies doing so? I’ve heard rumors about a Cisco employee who sent a note to resellers telling them this was a chance to sell more routers to replace the lost ones and of Gannett newspapers using the chance to get in touch with their best advertisers to offer a message of sympathy – and a reminder to buy more ads. The latest is Flowgo who sent out a general message to everyone on their mailing lists about the tragedy. They say they were trying to do good by sending out an inspirational message, but there was a marketing/PR pitch included in the email – which made some people upset.
Comments on “Turning The Appalling Into The Despicable”
PR tricks and stuff
what about all of the full-page ads in the wall street journal from various companies? totally pr pitches. i’ve got lots of such emails, including one from morgan stanley. however, i take most of them as being thoughtful. i don’t mind them. i don’t think there’s anything wrong though with most of this, unless you are blatantly trying to sell something or trying to deceive someone. however, what I would like to see is these companies promising to help…something that read “and our company, _____________, inc., has made an effort to help through donating $_______ million to the _______________ (red cross, etc.). These monies were wired __________________ (yesterday, today). turn the PR into something positive, really help people and don’t just say your are sorry and saddened, oh corporate cheifs of America. God Bless.
-Clous
It May Sound Cynical
but I’m clocking the timer to find out which
company will be the first to use the tragedy
in a commercial pitch. My bets for the top finalists?
Nokia, Motorola, AT&T and Ameritech