Desperate and Despicable -- Five things I learned from preposterous posters
Gerard Corbett, APR, Fellow PRSA
Founder @ Redphlag LLC | APR, College of Fellows
Desperate and despicable, that is what I label people who use the misfortune of others to grab attention for themselves, their blogs or other forms of mis-informed content. If you have something compelling to say, then craft the message in a way that is respectable and responsible. This week cyberspace has witnessed its share of headlines that employ a celebrity's demise to gain traffic and notoriety. My message is stop and stop now. Here are five things that come to mind about this practice.
1. It is disrespectful. Imagine that your spouse, parent or child passed on and immediately was put in the spotlight, employing the ploy of lessons learned. Think hard. I think you will come to the same conclusion as me.
2. There is no value. in taking advantaged of the disadvantaged. If you think there is saving grace prove it. Otherwise refrain from the practice. Please!
3. Your reputation will suffer. Assuming you have a good reputation, your use of such a device to gain followers or notoriety is going to backfire at some point. People will be so disgusted by your lack of sincerity and sympathy, you will lose all credibility for an assumed one time gain.
4. It is just sad. and demonstrates lack of a moral compass. That someone would stoop so low to use the misfortune of others is a sad commentary on your own moral fabric or lack thereof.
5. An act of desperation. Yes you look desperate. It is an extreme act indicating you have no hope or confidence in yourself to say something of importance to followers and potential followers without using a fake device to seek attention that is not warranted.
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9yThank you for highlighting what seems to be an increasing trend in insensitive opportunism. It is disheartening and most often counterproductive.
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9yI'm glad you wrote about this phenomenon, Gerard. I grew up watching Mork and Mindy and am a great fan of Robin Williams but did not appreciate having my Inbox deluged with emails full of self-promoting material using this tragedy as a chance to talk about their products or selves. If an effort is made to raise awareness about this illness and render support to sufferers, then I am all for it. In fact, I had written a blog post on mental health and stress for this week before I learned of Mr William's demise and have put it on the back burner because the timing feels ghoulish. For the record, his movie Dead Poets Society made the strongest impact on me.
Founder @ Redphlag LLC | APR, College of Fellows
9yI was motivated by many of the posts that I have seen this week. Also, it has been perculating for awhile. Every time a celebrity dies someone takes self serving advantage. And I am not referring to legitimate content that seeks to explore. I am talking about content that seeks to exploit.
Writing to move money and power from where they are to where they need to be.
9yThank you, Matthew. I agree there exists a moral/ethical line that can be crossed, but it seems to be a moving target. I find this troubling. Greg Weiss did not hawk his services in his post, whereas Shane's post ended with an ad for his book and (by my read), Cindy was advertising her "corporate shrink" chops. Not a pejorative peep to be heard. Be great if the quick-to-the-draw LI commentariat played fair.
Kathryn Harper: I'd speculate that Gerard's post was triggered by the "5 Tips..." but that its advice extends to all of the "reflections" we've seen this week. There's a line to be observed. A posting about what a particular figure means to an individual ("he/she affected my life in some way") is on one side. Using an artifice like a list that somehow relates that individual to the professional services one might offer steps over that line.