"Duh" story of the day

A new survey has found most Canadians don’t think oilsands companies have done a good job balancing economic and environmental concerns. The study does show more than 40 per cent of Canadians have a positive overall view, compared with 30 per cent who have a negative outlook. The Canadian Association of Petroleum producers says they need to do a better job of engaging with the public and need to recognize and reduce the environmental impact of oilsands development. Water use and greenhouse gas emissions are listed as the top two environmental concerns. Print has picked up this story – headlines are calling it a “PR problem.”

Full story in the Edmonton Journal can be seen here.

Why you should fund your organization's media department

When I decided that I didn't want to pursue a law career, that PR was more my thing, my mom constantly hounded me with the "but what can you do with public relations?" question.

The answer, mommy dearest, is that we can prevent companies from doing something like this.

Worst media interview EVER!

Election gaffe #32892301

Today's election gaffe news.

I don’t blame Harper. Politicians are busy people, and they don’t have time to look into everything and wonder if it sounds familiar because it’s the same old rhetoric, or if it sounds familiar because it’s the speech of another world leader.

This Owen Lippert character just kills me. "Pressed for time, I was overzealous in copying segments of another world leader’s speech," Owen Lippert says in a news release sent out by the Conservative camp on Tuesday afternoon.

Part of the job is being pressed for time. There’s never enough time in PR/Communications, let alone when it’s election season. The fact that he searched for another leader’s speech and copied it is just ridiculous. Reuse Harper’s own material, sure… at least they’re his [or the party’s] ideas. Reusing another famous person’s speech is garbage. It’s why people have no faith or trust in PR people. They think that we’re all like this douche.

Well, and this one: Reached by CBC News following Rae's appearance earlier in the day, Harper's spokesman Kory Teneycke dismissed the issue as irrelevant, saying the release of the video was an "act of desperation" from the Liberal campaign a day ahead of the first of the leaders' debates.

How did Harper manage to get such crappy communications staff?

Good thing they caught it now before Harper gets up to the podium and starts off with: “I have a dream… for Canada.”

I agree with Dion here: "Canadians want that their country speak with its own voice on the world stage. It's true for the prime minister; it's true for the Opposition leader."

No substitute for the zoo

These ads brighten my day. I adore them. Clever, simple, effective.

There are tons more... this series is dogs that are made to look like other animals, but there's also one I've seen of a hairy man eating a banana... hilarious.