Public Relations aka "PR"

Today in class we had a guest speaker who has been in the PR business for quite some time. She's very renowned within her field and gave us a few pointers on how we can deliver or should I say "pitch" our public health concerns to the community. In a way we are in the PR business; constantly "pitching" ideas to the general population about personal health and safety. How else can we strive to improve the health of the community if we don't present valid reasons, data, and studies to back up our claims that smoking does contribute to lung disease. It's a form of storytelling, trying to get your readers engaged and motivated for a cause you're promoting. PR public health messages can go a long way if it focuses on the individual or groups that are being affected by a health condition. If it fails to do so, the PR message loses its validity and readers will not be able to relate; hence losing public interest and clout.

On another note, have you ever heard the saying "Any press is good press" is clearly a delusional statement. For example, the Wendy's incident when a customer allegedly found a severed finger in her chili. Although it was intentionally placed by the customer to launder money from Wendy's, the company suffered from negative losses in their profits. Although it was a clear attempt to make a fast buck, Wendy's will always be thought of as the fast food place with the finger found in the chili. How appetizing does that sound?