Victory has found the reader reader who couldn’t get any calls on his Tmobile phone, and yet they wouldn’t let him leave service without paying the dreaded Early Termination Fee. First he called the Retentions department number we gave him. They said they would cut the fee in half, but still charge him. “Considering the amount of time I spent on the phone, they should be paying me,” wrote Evan. Then one of Tmobile’s PR people stepped in, waved a magic wand, and now Tmobile is doing what they legally should have done all along, let Evan go without charging an ETF.
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If The Critic Doesn't Say Exactly What You Want, Change It
By 1.9.08
Speaking of blurbs and quote-whores, Gelf Magazine has compiled a list of the most egregiously misrepresented blurbs cherry-picked from various reviews last year.
There Is A Guy Living In The Paramus, New Jersey IKEA
By 1.9.08
Remember that one guy who decided to visit all the Starbucks in NYC in 24 hours? Yeah, we’d forgotten about it, too. He’s convinced IKEA to let him live in their Paramus, NJ store for a week while his apartment gets fumigated.
Maxim Fires Peter Hammond, Movie Critic Shill Extraordinaire
By 1.8.08
As far as we are concerned, the function of a movie critic is to let you know (in as entertaining way), whether or not you should drop your hard earned cash to see a movie in a theater, if you should wait for cable, or if you should run screaming in the opposite direction.
WestJet Is Taking Child Endangerment Seriously
By 1.3.08
THE QUOTE: “The situation is of utmost concern for WestJet and we are taking this matter very seriously. We have apologized to the parents of the child and are doing all that we can to ensure that this does not happen in the future.”
Sears "Takes Your Satisfaction Very Seriously" But Only If You're From Boston
By 12.21.07
After WCVB in Boston did an investigation into Sears’ awful, awful customer service record when it comes to installation and repair of appliances (a category in which they used to excel), Sears has now apologized to its Boston customers.
Starbucks "Cheer Chain" Coupon Revealed, Nation Mourns
By 12.19.07
Yes, actually it is a PR stunt. They’ve even provided coupons to kick it off. This one (scan attached) came from Esquire magazine, I believe.
Nooooooooooo, you mean they’re not even passing back a drink someone that someone actually paid for? They’re passing a BOGO coupon?
Gee Whiz! The Starbucks "Cheer Chain Phenomenon" Might Be A Lame PR Stunt
By 12.19.07
Some cynical people, (not us, mind you) are starting to suspect that the news stories popping up all over the U.S. about Starbucks “cheer chains” might be planted by Starbuck’s PR team.
Best Buy Apologizes For Sending Cease And Desist Letter To Blogger For Reporting Factual Information
By 12.12.07
Best Buy has backed off and apologized for sending the Laughing Squid blog a cease and desist letter over their posting on other group’s Best Buy parody shirts. Initially, Best Buy didn’t feel the blogger’s free speech rights were of importance, saying Laughing Squid was “promoting” rather than reporting.” Now Best Buy says, “…we do not object to fair and accurate reporting of fact, and respect the First Amendment rights of Laughing Squid and other bloggers to provide articles or commentary on current events. Now that we have a better understanding of your website, we regret sending you the demand letter.” Hooray, the internet wins again!
Best Buy Cease And Desists Blogger For Reporting Someone Else's Parody
By 12.12.07
Ok, so there’s these guys called Improv Everywhere and they like to do mass coordinated pranks inside stores. They did one where they sent a whole bunch of people in blue polo shirts and khakis to go to Best Buy and stand around. Genius. Anyway, they made some Tshirts that parody the Best Buy logo. Unfortunately, they’re selling them, so they’re infringing on Best Buy’s intellectual copyright. They get a cease and desist letter. Fair enough. Where it gets freaky is that Laughing Squid blogged about their Tshirts, and Laughing Squid got a cease and desist letter too. Bwuh? Best Buy PR said the problem was that Laughing Squid wasn’t “reporting” but was “promoting.” Ok… So bloggers aren’t journalists now, we’re promoters? Duly noted. We’ll get right on ordering kilos of coke and cutting up our enemies and dumping them in the East River.
By 12.7.07
../../../..//2007/12/07/the-six-sins-of-greenwashing/
The Six Sins of “Greenwashing,” how companies try to fool customers into thinking they’re more environmentally responsible than they really are. [TerraChoice]
WHO Is Taking WHAT Seriously?
By 12.6.07
Again and again, apologetic public statements by company spokespeople feature the phrase, “taking it seriously,” or a variant thereof. Are all these companies really taking things as seriously as they say? Or is “taking it seriously” seen as an all-purpose incantation from the PR grimoire that magically erases away wrongdoing? A sort of “disaster ketchup?” Since we always like to see the good in humanity, we’ll refrain from passing judgment, and instead offer up eight recent iterations of the phrase so you can decide for yourselves.
Explosions: Whatever You Do, Don't Ask Montel Williams About Big Pharma
By 12.4.07
Montel Williams is a paid spokesperson for the pharmaceutical industry, but if you’re a high school intern for Savannah Morning News, you probably shouldn’t ask him any tough questions.
By 12.3.07
../../../..//2007/12/03/a-comcast-rep-called-absolutely/
A Comcast rep called “absolutely ridiculous” the rumor that they might have disrupted a Good Morning America broadcast featuring a Comcast-office-smashing-with-hammer-customer. [Comcast Must Die]
Spirit Airlines Holds "MILF Sale," Denies Having Seen "American Pie"
By 12.3.07
What? Milfs for sale? If you go to their website, there it is spelled nice and big for you, M.I.L.F.(many islands low fares). Is this an attempt to be clever and comical, or are they that uninformed?
The email attracted a bit of media coverage, and now Spirit is claiming that they have no idea (wink, wink) what a MILF is, and that the executive that approved the promotion is British. (Apparently, British people don’t have movie theaters or internet connections, the poor things.) Asked whether or not the airline knew the acronym was offensive, Juan Arbelaez, the director of communications for the company’s Latin American market, told ABC News:
Missing Slip Of Paper Almost Stopped US Airways/America West Merger
By 11.16.07
We always appreciate the oddly forthcoming US Airways emails they’ve been sending to out to customers to keep them apprised of developments during their merger with America West. Turns out the merger almost didn’t happen:
…on September 26th we officially handed over the America West operating certificate to the FAA and formally merged into one airline. Yes, there really was a handover ceremony, and for a few weeks we couldn’t find the original America West certificate. Turns out it was in use as part of a company heritage display. No certificate, no merger. Wouldn’t that have been embarrassing?
Aw, that’s almost cute. Can’t find the operating certificate…passengers stranded on the tarmac for hours….anyone else seeing a correlation?
Beware "Newsvertising"
By 11.15.07
Strapped for cash and time, local news stations are turning to a quick fix to slap together news stories. They’re called VNRs or “video news releases.” Basically a PR firm puts together a package with background footage, interviews, and even helpful scripts. The package seeks to promote products, persons, or to massage public opinion on issues in ways favorable to corporations. All the local station has to do is have one of their reporters do a voice over and boom, you got yourself some news. The problem is that news is being shaped by a subjective entity with a commercial interest at stake, and there’s no disclosure to the viewers that they’re not watching independent reporting.
PR vs Blogosphere, A Lesson
By 11.15.07
Brandweek featured us in a a nice piece about “customers striking back.” Mentioned are our Macbook smasher, the failed Dell takedown of our 22 Confessions Of A Former Dell Manager, and how Tmobile said it had fixed the $$1,766 in fraudulent charges on a reader’s account when they really hadn’t. The takeaway: be honest and make your customers happy and you will be rewarded.
