Say “No” to Publicity Stunts!

Last night I was watching Larry King. I usually catch his show 3 to 4 nights a week… I love how Larry interviews and feel the public viewing audience can really benefit from his unbiased journalistic interviewing skills. The way journalism should be.

Anyway, last night Larry interviewed Richard Heene, the father to Falcon Heene a.ka. “balloon boy. ” This is the boy who supposedly floated away in the homemade air craft/balloon in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 15, 2009. The father Richard Heene, made the big aluminum, space ship-like balloon in his back yard and still insists today that his son Falcon was on board the craft when it took off. [Okay, whatever. I saw all the footage and its pitiful and a disgrace that this man is trying to maintain innocence.]   

So I watched this piece… And I sat there in amazement. I was amazed by many things in this piece from the drama Richard Heene possessed, to how the public perceived the Heene’s disastrous publicity stunt. While the Larry Kling piece reported all that happened and gave Heene the chance to speak and share on his side of the story, it made me concerned afterward… concerned about the lay public conducting their own publicity stunts sometime in the near future b/c they think it’s a quick way to get publicity and not have to pay for public relations services.   

The word “stunt” originated from a Middle English word “stunt,” meaning “foolish,” “short-witted.” And publicity stunts have been around before P.T. Barnum who supposedly said, “The bigger the humbug, the better people will like it!” [okay, I guess Richard Heenan took that literally].  

I believe what Richard Heene and his family conducted was an “attempted publicity stunt” clearly gone wrong which resulted in a worldwide publicity “disaster.” WOWEE was it a disaster or what?

Heene’s publicity stunt clearly failed. Have you seen what this guy got smacked with? Prison time, fines, worldwide negative publicity, a town that despises him, police officers that don’t trust him and neighbors who don’t want to be surrounded by him. It couldn’t get any worse for the family. The video Richard Heene shot prior to balloon “lift off” (and shared on national TV) was disastrous! It couldn’t have possibly looked any more staged! And he looked more like a fool trying to maintain his innocence on Larry King than he did during the whole ordeal itself. This was just one big utter PR disaster that the whole world knew about that took place in small backyard for one family’s quest for 15 minutes of fame. How pitiful. How sad. 

Since before P.T. Barnum’s time, publicity stunts have always been public relations activities. We don’t see them often as they are very risky to conduct, to organize and to pull off (in the older days like in Barnum’s time, we saw them more frequently). You will rarely see a public relations agency or consultant recommend a publicity stunt or help strategize on one, as they will more likely to backfire, create severe damage or potential cause a crisis situation. Even the greatest PR teams can try put them together and they could fail. However, if planned and executed exceptionally well along with some good luck, they can be a highly effective form of communication/message delivery. And I have seen a few good ones in my day. But I do not recommend these stunts as PR tactics. Not for any business: small, medium, or large, or for any person/celebrity: unknown, known, or famous.  

While I love the Larry King show, I hope last night’s show didn’t plant a seed in anyone’s head. I walked away thinking it really might as what I saw was so outrageous. I applaud Larry for doing a great job as usual and for maintaining his professional composure while interviewing Heenan.

If you ever know of someone considering a publicity stunt, do them a favor and tell them to not conduct the stunt at home. Better yet, tell them to never conduct the stunt at all. Have them call a public relations professional or a PR agency for help with any publicity direction needed. One wrong publicity move could destroy and damage an image, reputation and business forever.

The Heene’s ”Balloon Boy” publicity stunt gone wrong makes for one of the greatest case studies ever. Im sure P.T. Barnum would have appreciated this one.