One day last week I was sitting around finishing my homework, and I was getting ready to sit down and relax for a little while before I got busy again. I turned on the television and nothing was on really until I turned to a show that I do not watch frequently. I have to admit though, that I will watch it if the show seems interesting and this one did. This show is the Oprah Winfrey Show. It was about famous people that many people did not know about. It had the creators of the Banana Republic on their and thefascinating story of how the company started. However, one story that caught my eye was actually about a company we all know about and their ongoing interesting public relations/advertising campaign. This company that everyone is familiar with is Krispy Kreme.

During their segment it talked about how only four people knew the recipe to making Krispy Kreme donuts. The most interesting aspect was there advertising/pr campaign. Now I saw that it is a campaign but in reality it is the people that are the campaign. Let me explain. Krispy Kreme has no formal advertising and they never have. All of there publicity is done by word of mouth, meaning consumer tells consumer how good the donuts are and that they should try them, and before you know it, a advertising campaign is created. This has always been the way for Krispy Kreme and they do not intend on changing anything anytime soon. This is a very interesting campaign because not many food companies do this type or public relations. You see commercials and advertisements for Burger King and even your local restaurants but Krispy Kreme has stuck by there sense of advertising, and that is by word-of-mouth.

Maybe other food industries should try this type of approach. If there food is good, then let the public decide to tell other people about the food. That is the scary aspect. Food companies rely on attractive models and interesting advertisements to bring customers to their products. So is there food really good, or are we just brainwashed to believe that it is good by seeing these commercials with models and discounts in them? It makes me think the reason they are discounting is because their food is not really good after all. Krispy Kreme donuts produced more than $238 million in sales last year, yet the company’s brand-development department consists of just six people. I would like to see Jared Fogle try this one out!

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‘In 1916 Theodore Roosevelt declared that the ‘tendency to use what have been called weasel words was “one of the defects of our nation”‘. ‘You can have universal training or you can have voluntary training, but when you use the word “voluntary” to qualify the word “universal”, you are using a weasel word,’ he said: ‘it has sucked all the meaning out of “universal”.’

(Watson’s Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Clichés, Cant & Management Jargon, page 3)

Weasel Words should be the enemy of all professional communicators. They destroy the language, they dumb down the audience and they decrease the professional standard of our industry.

Weasel words hit the radar in Australia largely through the work of Don Watson. Watson was a former advisor and speech writer to Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating.

Since leaving politics, Watson has written a critically acclaimed biography of Keating, and he’s started his campaign against weasel words.

It began with his excellent book ‘Death Sentence: The decay of the English Language’. Death Sentence is brilliant for everyone interested in writing and communicating. Watson is truly passionate about his topic, and his passion pours forth from the page.

In a great touch he also includes in the margin examples of classic prose, juxtaposed with examples of weasel words and managerial speak.

Weasel words are the heavy words often used in business documents, by corporations, and (always) in politics. They are words that are used to confuse the reader and stop them from getting involved with what they are reading. Buzz words fall into this category, but pretty much anytime you see an official business document or a politician’s speech, you’ll see weasel words.

Here’s an example of weasel words in action (credit to my weasel words diary)

Enhance boring movie titles; transition them into challenging, value-added texts

Implemented Exit Strategies in Terms of Wind Events – Gone With the Wind

Apocalypse at This Point in Time – Apocalypse Now

When Harry Interfaced with Sally – When Harry Met Sally

Schindler’s Agenda Items – Schindler’s List

The Executive Consultant of Lifestyle-enhancing Personal Accessories – The Lord of the Rings

Implement Negative Life Outcome for Bill – Kill Bill

For Young PR Pro’s, blogging can be a great way to train yourself out of using weasel words. Blogs (thankfully) are nearly always written in a conversational manner, and shun weasel words in all their shapes and forms. I think the relaxed writing style is a key feature in the popularity of blogs. People don’t like reading weasel words, they like hearing a real voice coming to them from the page.

Check out the Weasel Words website for some great examples of the mangling of everyday language, it’s often very funny.

Also, swing by Erin Caldwell’s blog for her take on gobbledegook; and check this Presentation Zen post.

Anyone care to share some thoughts on weasel words with us? Or even post some examples of weasel words spotted in the wild?

(This was originally posted at Young PR.) 

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Atlanta is buzzing with the news of AT&T’s proposed $67 billion buyout of BellSouth. BellSouth, a Fortune 500 company, employs more than 15,000 in the Atlanta metro area, and there is talk to cut potentially 10,000 jobs, mostly in the Atlanta market.

As you can imagine, this merger has brought up a few questions for thousands of people. Current employees in the metro area are wondering about their job security and the future. Current business and residential BellSouth customers are wondering how the merger will affect their service and prices. And stockholders are wondering how it will affect their stock. This is a huge PR situation. One wrong move or word and the success of the merger could become much bumpier.

Fortunately, both BellSouth and AT&T are speaking with one voice. They have messages and a plan in place to address the three audiences.

However, put yourself into the situation. How would you handle it?

You have issues in employee, investor and consumer relations to address! What will your message be? Who will be your primary audience? How will you get the message out? What media channels will you use? What questions do you need to have your customer service team prepared to answer from your audiences? What kind of fall-out can you expect from this? These are just a few of the scenarios that you will need to address.

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McDonald’s has had plenty of PR issues to deal with in the past few years. Let’s face it, the movie Super Size Me wasn’t exactly applauding McDonald’s and actually shed some pretty horrific light on the company’s influences on children and people’s health in general. Yet I think McDonald’s needs to be given some credit for what they are doing for their PR.

After the movie came out, all of a sudden the super sizing option was gone from McDonald’s menu, and since then, they have rebounded with plenty of healthier menu options. The adult happy meal with a bottle of water, fruit and a pedometer, milk and fruit for kids and a website of healthy lifestyle tips and an extended table of nutrition facts. Heck, they even started to put nutrition facts on the packages themselves which I dare say most fast food companies would never dream of doing.

However, I will say that some of the criticism is justified. Just when you think McDonald’s responds to crises with humble corrective action, it comes out that they tried to pull the denial card for a while. Having gluten-free food is a serious issue for a certain percentage of the population and as for why it was openly denied that their fries contained not a trace of the ingredient first and then later admitted, well I don’t understand. If they didn’t realize it had these traces of wheat gluten, you would have thought they would have done more serious research on the subject as soon as it became more of a problem for this particular public.

So, they say you see the true character and strength of a company in times of a crisis, and while most people would love to point at certain incidents with McDonald’s as a negative reflection of their company, I think we cannot deny some good PR moves that the company is making.

Now, of course I am only speculating, but I think McDonald’s is having to change for the new world, especially after such harsh criticism from Super Size Me. Perhaps before, McDonald’s only crises were lawsuits from their coffee being served too hot without caution. But now, the public is more critical and skeptical than ever, which makes PR all the more challenging, yet exciting. It seems to me McDonald’s is taking some new measures to be honest and really relate to their publics and what they need. Perhaps that is why they have now come out and admitted there is a problem with their fries.

And let’s not forget that PR for McDonald’s is a Herculean task since their publics are enormously diverse and all over the world. There will always be people with certain health needs that they won’t be able to fulfill while also trying to cater to the tastes and cravings of customers on practically every continent. But, they do have to be honest about things they didn’t even think would ever be an issue, and I think they are realizing that now. They have obviously done some things right to have gotten to the place they are now, but I think their publics are keeping them more on their toes than ever before.

(This is also posted at Ashley’s Blog.)

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