The Peanut Corporation

The Peanut Corporation, with a processing facility in Blakely, Georgia has had to do some heavy PRing as of late, when it was learned that some peanut butter that they had shipped out was contaminated with salmonella. Stewart Parnell, owner and president of Peanut Corporation, stated that, "Out of an abundance of caution, we are voluntarily recalling this product and contacting our customers."

This was an effective use of PR. It reminds me of the Tylenol scare when some psychopath was putting cyanide in Tylenol bottles. Instead of covering it up and blaming it on someone else, they recalled thousands of bottles of Tylenol, took a big financial hit, but they had the support of the general public because of their openess and honesty. I feel that the Peanut Corporation has followed in the footsteps of Tylenol: good PR.

Bowl Championship Series

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) has taken a PR hit lately as their latest poll results came out. The University of Utah, the only FBS school to go undefeated this year (which included a good old-fashioned butt-kicking over formerly top-ranked Alabama), finished the season without the opportunity of playing for the BCS national championship. This particular issue was articulated quite well by ESPN writer Rick Reilly. Click here to read his article.

Utah faced (and defeated) four top-25 teams during the season. They beat every team they faced. The argument is that, after going undefeated, Utah at least deserves the opportunity to play for the national championship. Florida lost to Ole Miss, Oklahoma lost to Texas, and Utah lost to...well, nobody. How do you justify that? BCS argues that, well, Florida and Oklahoma both had much more difficult schedules than Utah. This erroneous argument ignores the whole idea behind sports: champions are decided on the field. Not in polls, not by writers, not by money-grubbing university presidents. In every other sport, at least here in America, we decide a champion by allowing the best teams from the season to play each other. If you win, you keep playing until the championship. If you lose, then you go home. That makes a little more sense to me, anyway.

Hamas and Israel

I want to use this blog to discuss some things that interest me. I enjoy cable news, and I love reading the newspapers and trying to keep up with current events. As of late, the escalating dispute between Israel and the Hamas-led Gaza strip has been very interesting to watch, especially the way that the Israeli government and Hamas have addressed the public. Israel, as an ally of the United States and a more western-styled nation, has the eyes of the western world upon it.

Israel has maintained continued contact with the media, hosting press conferences to explain what it is doing, what it's options are, and why it's doing what it's doing. If nothing more, it shows that Israel is not trying to be sneaky with their war preparations and activities. Hamas, as far as I have seen, has maintained a defiant, unresponsive attitude regarding Israel and its demands that Hamas radicals discontinue sending rockets into the Southern part of Israel.

If Israel had begun an airstrike against Gaza without first going to the media and telling them about the situation, explaining their reasons and motives, then they would not have had any international support. They have been open and honest about what they are doing, and this has placed them in a good position. I believe that Israel has used effective public relations principles to keep themselves in a good position in the international scene.