Online Public Relations Thoughts

How do you bring attention to a destructive pest?  Burn it in effigy.  That is what a South Dakota town has done for 11 years.  The focus of its blaze is the mountain pine beetle, called by the Forest Service the most destructive bark pest in the western US and Canada.  The fire and the consumption of the wooden effigy brings attention to the beetle and its infestation of forests.  The AP news story reaches across the US with the message about the bug.  The fire is an example of burning publicity.