Monday, July 30, 2007
Pay for Play
An amusing bash of pay-for-play on airlines. This is why I don't like these seedy attempts to pass off interviews as journalism or near-journalism. There are PR practitioners who defend such approaches and use them. We try to avoid them.
There might special occasions in which a practitioner would look to paid interviews, but I can't think of one at the moment. Using paid interviews regularly is laziness or lack of creativity.
Note too that the producer spammed dozens of people to find one who was willing to pay for the privilege of appearing on the show. If it were an honor, there wouldn't be such hard work to get someone to pay for it. As for the conclusion that there will be more pay-for-play in the future, PR practitioners especially should oppose it. We should be against it not because it will cost clients more but because it destroys credibility, the impartial editorial vetting of concepts, products and services. We're not in the infomercial business. Or, if we are, someone failed to tell me that when I entered this business decades ago. We're in the unpaid persuasion business.
There might special occasions in which a practitioner would look to paid interviews, but I can't think of one at the moment. Using paid interviews regularly is laziness or lack of creativity.
Note too that the producer spammed dozens of people to find one who was willing to pay for the privilege of appearing on the show. If it were an honor, there wouldn't be such hard work to get someone to pay for it. As for the conclusion that there will be more pay-for-play in the future, PR practitioners especially should oppose it. We should be against it not because it will cost clients more but because it destroys credibility, the impartial editorial vetting of concepts, products and services. We're not in the infomercial business. Or, if we are, someone failed to tell me that when I entered this business decades ago. We're in the unpaid persuasion business.
Comments:
Post a Comment