The Sports and Public Relations Correlation

          Being a born and bred Texan, I have grown up with the words, “Football is God” being said casually over conversation. Why is football god and not academics? I often wonder why a team with a good sports team is automatically considered to be a school with a good academic program as well. Why does a good sports team automatically increase a city, or schools, chance for positive recognition?

The University of North Texas is a world-renown school. Musicians from near and far regard the school in high standards due to its musical prestige. Yet, because UNT does not have an amazing football team, many people regard the school as just mediocre. I find this ironic because (in my opinion) Texas Tech does not have the highest standards for academic excellence, yet they are considered better than UNT because of their football team.

            Although I believe there is definitely a way to misconstrue the value of a winning sports team, one cannot disregard the power of sports to portray a city or school in positive light. I will use baseball as an example.

The Texas Rangers are now in the World Series. Simply by being associated with the Texas Rangers, Dallas has received a plethora of positive public relations. Dallas is now deemed as a city of winners and where strong productive members of society reside. Dallas is now a topic on the minds of millions of Americans when usually it is not. During games #Texasrangers is usually a trending topic on Twitter where millions of people have access and the reach is enormous.

While I do not agree that sports should have such a huge factor in determining the value of a city, I cannot deny the aspect of free public relations and the positive effect that publicity can have on a city.

For Colored Girls...

 

Tyler Perry has a new movie coming out titled, "For Colored Girls." This movies stars the most heavy hitting African-American actresses and actors of our time. While many are praising the movie for its innovative themes, I beg the question, if the movie was called "For white women," would the reaction still be the same?


If the movie title was for any other race other than African-American, I believe there would be a huge backlash against the movie. The movie would be dubbed racists and most likely wouldn't event be made by a mainstream production company.

This movie has a central theme of "Black pride" yet, it poses the thought that if the movie was for "White" pride it would be linked to white supremacy.

Why is there a double-standard for having pride for your race if you are white, yet for minorities it is completely accepted and even encouraged? While I am definitely not one to support white supremacy, I do think that having pride for your race should be encouraged. It helps establish a sense of self and pride in ones background.

Evolution

The Dallas PRSA Fall 2010 Communications Summit was held today. Brian Solis, the lunch keynote speaker, said many inspiring quotes, but one resonated within me: “PR is only dying if it’s not evolving.” Such a simple phrase yet it packs such a message.

Public Relations is one of, if not the, fastest evolving professions available. Literally from the invention of the Gutenberg press to the first press release by Ivy Lee, PR has constantly been evolving. I find this wildly exhilarating and both challenging about the industry.

In an industry where as soon as you type words on paper, that action is obsolete, the task of learning the new trends can be daunting. Social media trends grow and die so quickly it is hard to keep up. It is a strategic intelligent move to decide which social media avenue to invest in and actually pursue rather than glance over them all.

            As a person born in Generation Y, I have grown accustomed to social media and its benefits. I have literally grown up using social media without acknowledging that the actions I was utilizing could one day help me in my future profession.

            Social media gives the consumers and “average Americans” a direct voice. They can now convey to the companies and business entities exactly what they want to say. The consumers’ opinions are also valued more because their opinions can be viewed by millions via the internet.

            I believe social media is the evolution of PR. Social media is a huge shift in the public relations industry that will resonate for years to come.

10/20/2010. A day of reflection and Hope

Yesterday was "Wear Purple in support of banning Anti-Gay bullying" On the UNT campus, I saw a sea of purple coming from every direction and it honestly made me so proud to be a UNT Eagle. It also stirred a debate between my girlfriends and I. Often, we say how we love gay men, but don't really care for lesbian women. What is up with that double standard?


My friends and I are completely for gay rights, we have several gay and lesbian friends, but why the bias? Honestly, It bothers me that there is that double standards when it comes to this subject. The debate made me look inside myself and really analyze where this bias originates from. 


After our debate, I started wondering if this conversation, or others like it, were being had by other people. Conversations that really challenge what people believe and their current opinions.


October 20, 2010 was a day of inspiring hope and introspective personal reflections. I believe this day was instrumental of getting the topic of gay rights to the forefront of every conversation and really showing how much support the gay rights movement actually has.


Equality for All!

The McRib Respects

McDonald’s is easily one of the world’s most recognizable companies. Their marketing strategy is impeccable and ingenious. McDonald’s has superior brand recognition, everyone (and I do mean everyone) can discern that the golden arches are a symbol of McDonald’s. While their marketing strategy is constantly receiving high praise, I feel that their public relations team should also be applauded.

            Recently, Yahoo! Finance covered a story about the McDonald’s McRib sandwich. The story detailed how the McRib sandwich has attained an elusive quality,  as it is only available for a limited time in various geographic locations around the country. This mysteriousness has resulted in a cult-like following for the McRib. Websites such as http://kleincast.com/maps/mcrib.php make searching for the McRib a hunt, a quest for the golden sandwich if you will.

            The defining principal of public relations is to be the link between the public and the company. Obviously the public wanted its McRib sandwich and McDonald’s wants to supply their consumers with a popular product. The catch is, McDonald’s does not consider the McRib to be profitable year-round, therefore only releasing it in certain areas at certain times within the year.

The relationship between McDonald’s and the McRib consumers is one of trust and respect. McDonald’s does not advertise excessively for the sandwich, they rely on word of mouth and the influence of the die-hard McRib fans to spread the word. The McRib Lovers feel valued and respected, which helps support to their successive visits to McDonald’s.

McDonald’s has managed to find a segmented market and directly appeal to that base. Instead of completely removing the product from their menu, they have listened directly to their consumers about their wants and concerns. And this respect between the consumer and company is exactly what sets McDonald’s away from the pack.

"Eh, Just Take Them Out"- Couples Retreat

In the Summer of 2010, a comedy was released, Couple Retreat. The plot is focused around four couples and their quest be happy in each of their relationships. Out of the four couples, only one is of a different ethnicity. Shane and Trudy are african-American. The movie is sub-par at best but the controversy is derived from the movies promotional poster.

Notice how in the American version of the poster (on the right) the Black couple is clearly visible. They are the furthest away and seem the least important,yet they hold just as much importance to the movie as the other characters. This jab aside, we must look to the European version of the poster (on the left). The Black couple is completely non existent.

The movie received much flack for this change, many calling the movie racist. The production company simply stated that to "condense the poster, certain characters had to be removed." How convenient that it was the Black couple.

With such Hollywood heavy hitters such as Malin Ackerman, Vince Vaughn, and Jason Bateman, I'm surprised we didn't hear more outcry from these popular actors. If they honestly felt that a wrong was done, the production company would have changed the poster. Vaughn was even a producer for the movie and this travesty still occurred.

While Hollywood has made strides toward equal treatment of ethnicities, it still has a long way to go as evident by this poster mishandling. 

The Art of a Slogan

While on a recent trip to Philadelphia, I came across a restaurant known for its delicious cheesesteaks called Delessandro’s.  Although this tiny restaurant produces the most flavorful cheesesteaks in the lower Philadelphia area, the thing I remember most about this restaurant was the slogan: "If it doesn't taste like Delessandro’s steaks and hoagies, then its not."

While this slogan is short and sweet, it simply does not make sense.  Printed on all the paper menus, each customer will have an opportunity to read this slogan. I will admit, the slogan adds a kitschy local charm to the business, but it does not make complete grammatical sense.

The sentence is incomplete as it is missing a second portion of the sentence. “Then it is not” does not have enough ground to stand on its own and thus is a dependent clause.

If I had power to help the Delessandro’s restaurant, I would change the slogan to “If it doesn't taste like Delessandro’s steaks and hoagies, then it’s not the original." While this change is small and only adds two words, it completes the sentence. It makes sense to the reader while maintaining the same local feel of the slogan.

I believe the catchy slogan undoubtedly helps brand recognition of the popular restaurant, but to improve professionalism and credibility, the slogan should definitely be changed.

Negative impact of Molestion charges on the City of El Paso

On September 30, The Washington Post reported a story regarding the sexual misconduct of an El Paso high school teacher. The teacher in question, 34-year-old Marco Alferez, is accused of with having sexual encounters with at most 70 students—all encounters being taped.

As the story was exposed today, many details are still coming out about the encounters. Readers know that of the 70 students victimizes, several were elementary aged. We know that Alferez only began employment with the school district in 2008, which equates to molesting up to 45 students each school year. What readers aren’t told is how this story unconsciously degrades the reputation of the city of El Paso and its educational system.

El Paso is a border town, directly riding the border between Texas and Mexico. As a native Texan, I associate El Paso with border patrol and gang violence. While neither gangs nor border patrol represent a positive depiction of El Paso, the city is known for its strong Hispanic culture. El Paso is home to four four-year universities including the University of Texas-El Paso and five independent school districts. That educational system will now be under fire as a result of this story.

This case of alleged child molestation will negatively impact the city economically, socially, and culturally. Economically, the city will suffer due to the cost of a trial and in the future by the negative connotation El Paso’s education system will undergo. Many families  are not going to want to move to a town where they feel they cannot trust the teachers. As students spend at least seven hours at school, parents need to feel that their children are in safe hands, not the hands of a monster.

El Paso will be affected socially because the city is now associated with sexual misconduct. El Paso is a large city on the edge of Texas. The Washington Post and other highly recognized papers regularly cover the city due to its violent crime incidents.  

It’s a common belief that one never suspects the people most like themselves to be the ones who hurt them. In a city enriched with Hispanic culture, the citizens probably never suspected a Hispanic male of being a threat to their community. As an African-American woman, I compare this crime to an African-American rapist targeting Black women.  Regardless of race, the crime is still appalling; it’s just another nonsensical aspect of the crime.

I believe the city of El Paso, Texas, will have to launch into crisis management mode to repair the damage done by this teacher.