Comments on: Guest Post: Should All Releases Have Disclaimers on “Intent to Promote a Product?” http://www.pr-squared.com/index.php/2007/10/guest_post_should_all_releases Social Media and Public Relations Consulting � PR Squared Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:48:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Dan Schawbel http://www.pr-squared.com/index.php/2007/10/guest_post_should_all_releases/comment-page-1#comment-3146 Dan Schawbel Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:28:28 +0000 http://pr-squared.com/pr2wp/index.php/2007/10/guest-post-should-all-releases-have-disclaimers-on-%e2%80%9cintent-to-promote-a-product%e2%80%9d#comment-3146 This is a question of ethics. Either way, social media will alleviate this concern by providing a full perspective. This is a question of ethics. Either way, social media will alleviate this concern by providing a full perspective.

]]> By: Jen White http://www.pr-squared.com/index.php/2007/10/guest_post_should_all_releases/comment-page-1#comment-3145 Jen White Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:51:51 +0000 http://pr-squared.com/pr2wp/index.php/2007/10/guest-post-should-all-releases-have-disclaimers-on-%e2%80%9cintent-to-promote-a-product%e2%80%9d#comment-3145 Great post. I think that some of these calls for disclaimers and whatnot are getting a bit silly--it implies that people are either too dumb or too busy to be discerning readers. Consumers are smarter than they are given credit for, and I think putting disclaimers such as Tom suggests will make news releases even more unreadable. Some of this backlash, in my opinion, is being caused by the sheer number of releases being churned out. And, in all fairness, some news releases are *not* news--but that's an issue that PR firms need to take up with their clients, some of whom are so eager to get press that every time they make a color change or minor product modification, they want to send a release out. PR firms need to say no to these no-news news releases, even if it means forgoing the billable hours spent writing, sending, and monitoring the pickup. Reducing the number of these nonsense releases would likely engender at least some goodwill, but it would have to be done on a large scale, by many agencies, to cause a notable drop. Again, great post. Jen Great post. I think that some of these calls for disclaimers and whatnot are getting a bit silly–it implies that people are either too dumb or too busy to be discerning readers. Consumers are smarter than they are given credit for, and I think putting disclaimers such as Tom suggests will make news releases even more unreadable.

Some of this backlash, in my opinion, is being caused by the sheer number of releases being churned out.

And, in all fairness, some news releases are *not* news–but that’s an issue that PR firms need to take up with their clients, some of whom are so eager to get press that every time they make a color change or minor product modification, they want to send a release out. PR firms need to say no to these no-news news releases, even if it means forgoing the billable hours spent writing, sending, and monitoring the pickup. Reducing the number of these nonsense releases would likely engender at least some goodwill, but it would have to be done on a large scale, by many agencies, to cause a notable drop.

Again, great post.

Jen

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