Scorestreak 525 (PREP12)

No matter what the intention is, the killing of innocent civilians is never a PR success story.  Toscano was right to be so aggressive in defending the overall idea and purpose of drones.  It was the only way to counter the negative perception of drones.  Use more drones, lose less soldiers.  Simple math that everyone can do.

But the car crash comparison?  That's a hell of a stretch.  Car crashes are accidents.  A missile strike on a group of human beings?  Not quite the same thing, Mike.  We don't talk about banning cars because cars are a necessity in today's society, and we train and license people to use them.  Drones aren't exactly the same thing.  Comparing the two is an absolute horrible argument and made Toscano look foolish.

I'm all for justifying the use of drones and I agree with the general idea of drones and the purpose they serve.  Fighting forest fires and finding missing persons, who wouldn't agree to that?  Focusing on those aspects, rather than trying to fight with bogus car crash statistics, is what I would have presented to the general public when defending the use of drones.

Oops.  Sorry, Michael.  *remotely piloted vehicles.

The Silver Tongue of Goldman Sachs (PREP11)

Rudy Ruettiger.  David.  The 300 Spartans.  The 2007 New York Giants.  Everyone loves a good underdog story.  Everyone loves when the little guy rises up and thwarts his oppressors.  That's what Greg Smith seemingly did to Goldman Sachs after working for them for over a decade.  But was he REALLY an underdog, though?  Was he REALLY oppressed?  I don't know about you, but I think I could handle some oppression for the six figures he was getting.  The initial feeling is "good for him" because it is so easy to side with the little guy.  But airing out your dirty laundry the day you leave the company?  That's pretty cold.  It also makes Smith come off as intensely bitter.  I love the idea of peeling back the curtain and revealing the truth to the public, but, perhaps Smith should have been more tactful in his actions.

I think Goldman Sachs could have responded more gracefully.  It seemed like a weak attempt at a rebuttal mixed with an even weaker attempt at promising a solution to the issues at hand.  Smith was in full-on attack mode and when it comes down to defending themselves, Goldman Sachs laid an egg.  One man's words smacked an entire company in the face and rocked them.  Goldman Sachs limped away to lick its wounds and Smith cashed in on a book deal.  You're a gigantic powerhouse, Goldman Sachs.  Try harder next time.

You Actually Can't Ketchum All (PREP10)

"Hey!  I've got an idea!  We'll invite a bunch of opinionated, snobby food bloggers to come eat at a five-star restaurant.  We'll promise them a gourmet meal prepared by a celebrity chef!  BUT... We'll give them highly processed, sodium drenched frozen meals, instead!  Everyone loves a good bait-and-switch commercial!  No one will EEEEEVR be pissed about being lied to and fed something nowhere near the quality of what they were promised!"

Honestly, that's how I imagine that ConAgra meeting going.  I really have no idea what Ketchum was thinking when they were approached with this idea and had no problem going forward.  How someone with Ketchum didn't see this idea on paper and tell ConAgra "your idea is stupid" is beyond me.

Sure, this idea has worked in the past.  We've seen the commercials where someone is taken into a restaurant and given pizza or soup and loved it, and then the staff comes out and tells them they just ate DiGiorno's or whatever.  But the reason those commercials worked is that those were simple, everyday people, not pretentious mommy bloggers who attack big companies every day.  Those every day people weren't promised five-star meals prepared by chefs they've seen on television.  They just walked into a regular place for a regular meal.  THAT is where ConAgra and Ketchum really dropped the ball.  You can't bring in volatile personalities and set up grandiose expectations, and not expect massive backlash when you completely yank the rug out from under them.

Ketchum and ConAgra should have stuck with the same formula as those before them.  Regular people, regular locations, regular food.  If it isn't broken...

Overheard In A Wawa Parking Lot (PREP9)

I remember this incident vividly.  The first time I had heard of the Wawa convenience store chain was during my first trip to Pennsylvania to participate in a wrestling seminar and compete on a few shows in the Philadelphia area.  I got lost around Upper Darby, PA and went into a Wawa store to ask for directions.  Cool place, awesome sandwiches.  Mitt made a solid choice.

So when I first heard about this in passing, it piqued my interest because of the mention of the Wawa store.  I remember shaking my head once the full details came out.  I've always been one to want to hear the most accurate story.  Not some biased jibberish, twisted to help one's own cause despite being completely inaccurate.  They broke the cardinal rule.  Never lie.  This fiasco caused me to place MSNBC right alongside CNN in my personal "don't bother watching this garbage for any legitimate news" list.  Might be harsh, but...well, fool me once.

If I'm Andre Mitchell, I report what is actually there.  I don't bother trying to paint Romney as some wide-eyed child seeing a color wheel for the first time.  I don't bother being ignorant enough to think that the truth can't easily come out about a situation in 2012.  I don't bother putting my political beliefs into my piece.  If I'm Andrea Mitchell, I use the opportunity to report facts and I use the opportunity to make a genuinely interesting piece about Romney's larger point about "government waste and the more efficient methods of private sector industry."  If I'm Andrea Mitchell, I'm more concerned with my own personal code of ethics and journalistic accuracy than worrying about whether or not my piece will help the campaign of my political party's opponent.  But I'm not Andrea Mitchell...

But, hey.  It helped Wawa a lot, and that's pretty cool.  Wawa deserved the good press.