John Gosselin

John and Kate plus 8 brought TLC tons of viewers; and on the premiere of their last season, the most viewers TLC has had on any of their shows. However, the once chaotic, happy family has been in the media for the past several months for their downfall. Most people have taken sides and are now siding with Kate after many allegations against John and his recent behavior.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b157383_jon_gosselin_embarrassment_tlc.html

John Gosselin has been seen with younger girls, and out partying when his wife is at home with their 8 young kids. He has made such a bad image of himself through his actions. Rather than be low key during the divorce, he has done quite the opposite. I think that he needs to step up and take responsibility for his actions and where his life is headed.

A new route for Oprah

A few weeks ago Oprah announced that after twenty years of having a talk show, this upcoming season would be her last. I think that Oprah handled this very well and at the appropriate time. She is on top of her game, with a talk show, magazine, and much more.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/oprah-winfrey-leave-talk-show-2011/story?id=9131633

It was also announced that Oprah will be moving to HBO and have her own channel. I think it was good of her to not bring this up nor deny any questions about it. Overall Oprah will be successful no matter what she does or where she does it; whether it be having her own talk show, or being part of HBO.

Tiger Woods Scandal

By now everyone has heard some version of the Tiger Woods scandal. In class we spoke about how this event was similar to when the Cowboy's had their few member fight in the locker room. In both situations, the parties waited too long to respond to the media, therefore incriminating themselves.

http://gamercrave.com/tiger-woods-scandal-doesnt-sway-ea/1024/

Regardless Tiger Woods will have lots of press. However, in my opinion if this situation had been handled better there would not be as much, or as negative.

Walmart PR Campaign

Recently a blogger attacked Walmart about their employee health insurance. Due to more scrutiny than ever before, Walmart is taking a new approach, looking beyond the normal media and going straight to the source; bloggers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/technology/07blog.html

Walmart is telling them news, suggesting topics and inviting people to their headquarters. They are experiencing problems with bloggers posting information from Walmart, yet they do not put a source. Despite this problem, I think Walmarts PR team had an affective new approach to reach their customers and people that have issues or concerns with Walmart. Instead of letting people post negative things about their company, they went straight to the source, bloggers, and settled their disagreements.

Did Oprah show too much?

Oprah is getting some negative feedback on her decision to show the face of a survivor of a chimp attack. Oprah said she debated whether or not to show the victims face and decided to when she thought about why they would be blurring it in the first place which is so that the viewers "don't have to" see it.

http://www.popeater.com/2009/11/16/oprah-wards-off-attacks-about-revealing-charla-nashs-face/?icid=mainhp-laptopdl2link3http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popeater.com%2F2009%2F11%2F16%2Foprah-wards-off-attacks-about-revealing-charla-nashs-face%2F

I think that Oprah made the right choice because ultimately it is the victims choice whether or not she wants her face to be shown on national TV or not.

Pink Out

Recently all I have heard about is the big upcoming football game against Utah. What I have also heard a lot is about the 'pink out' part of it. Through signs, ads, and word of mouth everyone knows about this event. I think that the group in charge did a very good job with the PR of this event. They have reached out to the community, alums, students and survivors to bring them all together this upcoming Saturday.

http://www.komentarrant.org/

Overall, I wanted to switch up this blog from the others and show the capabilities of successful PR; because all of my previous posts have been about negative.

Ft. Hood

By now many people have heard about the tragedy that happened last week at Ft. Hood. However, what confuses me about the situation is all the different views, and stories coming from it. According to wsj.com, we can minimize it to two big theories that have come out of it: "One is that Major Hasan should be seen as not much different than many other disturbed individuals, while the other is that the Hasan murders raise hard questions about the ability of Muslims to serve at all in the American military."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704402404574525743684356798.html

I think that the PR person for Ft.Hood as well as an overall spokesperson from the military needs to come out and make a statement about how they feel, as well as the town and military. They need to clear up the two different views, although it will be difficult.

Late Night Show Suprise

Last Thursday David Letterman exposed a huge secret not only involving him, but several of his employees as well. Letterman revealed that someone had approached him about "creepy" behavior he has committed and they threatened to expose it if he did not pay him off. Letterman's response was not expected, however said by many to be a perfect PR stunt.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/04/lettermans-tv-admission-called-adept-pr/

Usually news like this would be seen as sinful and disgusting yet when Letterman told his audience along with millions of viewers they applauded and then laughed, as if it were just another one of his jokes. People now know it wasn't a joke. Also, many say David Letterman could not have presented this information in a better way-- being in his own environment, with his own fans, and I have to agree.

Advertising on Facebook

Recently for the first time Facebook made a profit. Previously Facebook did not have advertising, and therefore did not make a profit from it. However, they now do have advertisements that are segmented toward a specific audience.

http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?src=aw05

Although this may be annoying to Facebook users, I think it is a very smart business move for them to make. Especially with today's economy, everyone is struggling to make ends meet. I am not sure if this is the idea of the public relations person(s), or whom, but whoever came up with the idea to have advertisements along with people's internet socializing/business is very smart and still somewhat discrete to users.

Kayne West-controversial again

By now nearly everyone has seen and heard something about what Kayne West did at the Video Music Awards a few weeks ago. After jumping on stage and taking away Taylor Swifts' award to blurt out his own thoughts on who should have best video Kayne was on nearly every news/talk show, even radio across the US.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1621389/20090913/west_kanye.jhtml

What I don't understand is why Kayne West keeps upsetting different people by expressing his beliefs very publicly and not, in my opinion, very efficiently. His last big "scene" was when he spoke about racial issues he had problems with. Yet what confuses me most is that I know Kayne, along with several other celebrities, pay people lots of money to overall make them have a good persona to the media and public. So either Kayne's PR person is slacking or has lots of catching up to do.

9/09/09

September 9th, 2009 was not just a once in a life time date. It was an excuse for bands, companies, and so on to promote new products. The Beatles had their music coming out in a new form... switched from analog to digital, and lots more companies had minor advertising for their products. However, the company that made themselves most prominent with ads about their new "surprise" products was Apple.

http://www.ipads.com/could-apple-ipad-computer-launch-be-9909/

There were tons of rumors floating around the internet about what Apple was going to surprise everyone with. Apple did a good job of keeping the secret until 9/09/09 when they came out with a new itouch with a camera. Through much hype and excitement Apple managed to get a huge buzz going about their product(s) coming out on this substantial date.

E Cigarettes popularity on the rise

E cigarettes are something I have heard very little about. However, by going to their website I was able to find out exactly what E Cigarettes are and why they are getting to be so popular. E Cigarettes are supposed to be a "healthier" alternative that normal cigarettes, however they still have tobacco, just contain less of the toxins. Since the E Cigarettes have begun in July, their demand is growing over 300% a month. To me, this shows that this is a very big and successful new product.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/E-Cigarettes-National-Expands-prnews-3170941249.html?x=0&.v=1

Although I do not smoke, I think this is a good invention. I do not like smoking, however I understand that some people are so addicted they cannot stop, even when they want to. That is why I think this new product is good. It is at least a little better for your health than normal cigarettes; and also maybe it can be a step to help many to quit. Last, my impression was that these were rechargable? If that is the case then it has the chance to help slow down trash and littering of cigarettes.

A new route for Disney cruise

For the first time ever the Disney Cruise line will go through Alaska. Due to guests requests there will now be an opportunity (during four months) that people can explore the natural wonders of Alaska. Another new thing with the Disney Cruise is that it will for the first time call the West Coast home for an entire year.

http://www.prnewswire.com/

I think this change is a good idea for the cruise line. They listened to their guests requests, and therefore now have a new and exciting route ahead. I think it is good for them to mix up the places they visit because now they will not only reach out to a new group of guests but also give the same, frequent guests a new option and place to visit. Now in my opinion, the Disney Cruise line has all types of places covered to visit as well as a large variety that should make many happy and content.

First Time!

This will be my first time ever posting, or even looking at a blog. The closest I've come to a blog is by watching the movie Julie and Julia.. which if you've seen it, thats basically what the movies based on. Anyway I am glad to cross over to this new way of communicating with others. Also, I am very excited for my PR Princliples class that "makes" us have either a blog or twitter.

I think my new PR Principles class has a lot to offer. We have already covered several different definitions for public relations, and know there are many more to come. The technical definition our book gives us is that public relations is the management of relationships between an organization and the publics that can affect its success. To me, this is exactly how I have always thought of public relations... sort of the link between everyone.