A medical marvel is always great publicity for the institution that produces it. Take, for example, this case. A surgeon at the Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville Kentucky used a 3D printer to build a model of a child’s defective heart so he could determine how to operate on it safely. It was a novel use of the printer and creative medicine. The hospital can justifiably take pride in the breakthrough and the publicity puts it near the forefront of medicine where researchers are building body parts out of human tissue. Moreover, it is good PR because it demonstrates what the hospital and its surgeons can do — a plus for worried patients and parents. Hospitals have never been slow to take marketing advantage of the breakthroughs produced in their wards. It is tried and true technique and still best.
Impostors and Reputation
For three years, Goldman Sachs has been embarrassed by a person who was posting comments heard in its elevators. Except, the person wasn’t in Goldman’s elevators nor was the person in Goldman. He is an impostor. Goldman was victimized not by a rogue employee but by someone who has never worked for the firm. While this might seem trivial, it is nonetheless a reputational problem. On the internet, anyone can pose as anyone else and vilify, mock or otherwise compromise the image of an organization or an individual. If the impostor is clever enough in covering his tracks, there is no reason for readers to believe that he is anything other than what he says he is. And, how is anyone to prove that he is not? There have been impostors through history. There is nothing new about them. The difference now is that they have a vast audience. This fellow had 600,000 followers. It seems that PR needs more than monitoring to protect clients. It needs good online tracking skills as well. Nothing would have stopped this impostor except exposure. Goldman was successful this time, but what about the next?
Lottery Publicity
It is hard to argue for a state lottery. It is self-taxation that the poor and less educated inflict on themselves in pursuit of an empty dream. Yes, they should know their odds are slim, but as advertising says, “You never know.” So they buy tickets and governments raise funds rather than imposing new tax revenues. Everybody should be happy. The poor have an outlet for their dreams of entering high society. The state can pay bills. But, not so fast. States feed the dream to the poor and amplify it time and again to boost ticket sales. That runs on the edge of ethics. If a state were honest, it would publicize the chances of winning—e.g. 1 in 300 million, or the population of the United States. But, they aren’t honest, and they clothe games in cash, jewelry, houses and expensive cars. All this could be yours if you hit the jackpot. One would hope governments would be more honest with citizens than commercial entities with customers, but that isn’t the case. States hype and they are proud of it.