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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Why? 

There are business events that are so predictable anyone can see them coming. This is one. The housing bubble was like the stock market bubble in the late 90's. It took no skill to see it was happening but there was a great deal of denial of the obvious. I have to wonder how many PR practitioners were out there flacking home ownership in the subprime market when they should have known better. There had to be more than a few, and they will hide behind the excuse that they were following orders. But, it seems to me in PR following orders is not enough. One needs to survey the environment constantly and to feed back what one sees to internal audiences. The housing frenzy was there for anyone to view. Flippers were running amok. Mortgage money was flowing like flood water without dams of proper credit analysis. Greed was everywhere. Did PR practitioners put blinders on? I'm sure more than a few did. Their employers were supposed to make credit decisions. The practitioners were just there to communicate.

Comments:
As the PR and Comms Manager for Florida's leading real estate company, it is my job to promote homeownership regardless of the environment. In regard to the mortgage lenders, how are they or their flacks any different from a car salesman who sales a car to an unqualified customer at 28% because he can. You cannot blame information brokers, pr pros or advertisers for what goes on in the marketplace. Savvy homebuyers and sellers understand their own finances and what they can and cannot afford. Whether you are talking about buying a home, car or gambling, you cannot protect the consumer from themselves.

Matt Gentile (FloridaMoves.com - 300 Days of Sunshine)
 

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