Bad Publicity By Association

Whoever said “Any publicity is good publicity,” probably had anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan as a willing pupil.

If you missed today’s newspapers, you would have missed Cindy posing with Venezuela’s president, as she pledged to continue her protests in Bush’s backyard.

Say what you will about your position about the war, but posing with a dictator is not a good PR move, in my opinion.

Cindy runs the extreme risk of being painted as the next Jane Fonda, whose protests against the Viet Nam war by posing with North Viet Namese have hounded her for decades.

One fact of publicity is that the people you associate with can come back to help you or haunt you. That’s why speakers so frequently say they share the stage with President Ford, or Joe Namath or Zig Ziglar. They want the positive associations to rub off on them.

That’s why I interview celebrities in the publishing and speaking world for my teleseminars. I want the good will of a Vickie Sullivan or Linda Hollander or Dan Poynter or Sam Horn to rub off on me.

The implication (in a good way) is that if I know these people who stand on high ground, then I must be an insider as well.

The strategy works.

Just be sure you pick the good guys and not the bad guys, Cindy.

Dan Janal
Your Fearless PR LEADER
PR LEADS Expert Resource Network
www.prleads.com