So it turns out Brownie wasn’t doing “a heck of a job” after all.
Simply put, the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina showed us that if PR or advertising initiatives don’t take reality into account, they won’t work.
When the gloriously badass Lt. General Russel Honore rolled into New Orleans to oversee military operations a couple of weeks ago, he was asked why the response took so long. “This is a disaster,” he said. “This isn’t something somebody can control. We ain’t stuck on stupid.”
Well, there are few Russel Honores in the advertising industry. If we think we have absolute control over public perception anymore, we’re stuck on stupid.
It’s the focus of my new column on Talent Zoo. Check it out.
Hey, you beat my to my next blog entry. But I’m pretty sure that your post was better than mine would have been. Nicely done.
Truth matters. Bullshit meters are more sensitive than ever before. You can’t say the head of FEMA is doing a great job while corpses bob in the streets of a major American city.
Now, of course, we’re getting a lot of “the buck stops here” and so forth. But it’s not really sticking because it rings hollow — it’s two weeks too late.
Bush is also “Stuck on Stupid”!
Check out the t-shirt:
http://savemanny.blogspot.com/2005/09/bush-is-stuck-on-stupid-t-shirt.html
If you ask me, it’s the Media who has been stuck on stupid… Just ask Major Honore.