516.286.3773 robyn@owl-pr.com

SKITTLES PROVES WHY PR PROFESSIONALS ARE INVALUABLE

Here’s a situation that opened up a big ol’ can of PR worms this week: Trump Jr’s analogy using Skittles candy as a stand-in for Syrian refugees on Twitter. Now what? Surely there are no rainbows at the candy company’s office these days.


Immediately visions of meeting after meeting amongst Skittles’ PR and marketing team crossed my mind when I heard about this incident. There were so many ways the company could’ve played this, and no matter the response, I knew judgements would flood the internet regardless. But, experienced PR folks can minimize it. That’s why it’s important to have a team that’s savvy in both public relations and social media.

Here’s what the company’s Vice President of Corporate Affairs had to say about the matter:

“Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don’t feel it’s an appropriate analogy. We will respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be misinterpreted as marketing.”

Four simple sentences seem easy enough, but my guess is that response took hours to draft. This is why: the company was challenged to craft a message that is (1) emotionless (2) factual (3) doesn’t demonstrate a political opinion and (4) could not be interpreted as defensive or self promotional. It takes a skilled PR professional to craft something that conveys several difficult points in one brief response, but Skittles achieved it. In fact, they could stand to teach other companies (even ones within the same industry) a thing or two.

So kudos to the PR department. We believe you think wisely.

Robyn Lanci
5 Tips For Mastering Your Next Media Pitch

5 Tips For Mastering Your Next Media Pitch

Those words came from a writer at the Associated Press. She was interviewing me for a story about how small businesses can market themselves. I was already totally flattered to be chatting with this writer in the first place…that compliment put me over the moon.

THIS IS HOW CANDY BECAME A MARKETING HOME RUN

THIS IS HOW CANDY BECAME A MARKETING HOME RUN

Recently a public relations vendor posted an article on its Facebook page about why outsourcing your PR might not be a clever idea. I’m sure I wasn’t the only PR person out there who was annoyed that a PR vendor was advocating not working with an agency, but it also left me wondering who is in charge of the company’s social media.

HOW TO SPOT A BAD PR PERSON

HOW TO SPOT A BAD PR PERSON

Recently a public relations vendor posted an article on its Facebook page about why outsourcing your PR might not be a clever idea. I’m sure I wasn’t the only PR person out there who was annoyed that a PR vendor was advocating not working with an agency, but it also left me wondering who is in charge of the company’s social media.

Get a free public relations & marketing consultation.

Copyright 2019 Owl PR