Flackette

Apparently somebody’s out to get me and every other respectable blogging woman! Joel R. Postman, Director of Executive Communications for Hyde Park Associates, published a post three days ago on his company’s blog about women in the PR blogosphere. Of course, first and foremost he mentioned our dear friend “Man”dy Chapel over at Strumpette. If you participated in the Strumpette debate when it was actually going on nearly three months ago, skim if you must, but there’s nothing new there.

Then he criticized one of Strumpette’s detractors, Kirsten Osolind, CEO of re:Invention Marketing, by poking fun at her “Photoshopped glam shot” and featured “shoe of the week” that appear on her blog.

And then, of course, there’s little ol’ me. I’ll let his words do the talking:

Less sleazy in name but employing a similar tack is Flackette, who instead of using photos of models on ‘her’ site, uses a Vargas-like illustration to represent ‘herself,’ and makes liberal use of pink in the blog’s color scheme. This is apparently to let us know that a PR professional can be female, attractive and competent. (Note that I make liberal use of quotation marks around the words ’she,’ ‘her,’ etc. in this post. Call me cynical.)

Flackette has also taken on Strumpette.

Notes also this comment on Flackette’s blog:

At 12:59 PM, Michael Morton said: “Nice play on the PRostitute! Great insight Flackette. It’s good to have you back blogging. By-the-way, when will you reveal yourself?”

It’s great to see men being so supportive of this noble crusade for women’s rights, especially when they tack on the equivalent of “hey, what are you wearing?” to the message of solidarity.

I’d like to respond with the following retorts (which I hope that Joel chooses to read for himself).

- As to my identity: I guess my written description of myself, where I gave my name, the university I graduated from, and where I work was not transparent enough for Joel. Or maybe he just didn’t read past the pink. I can heartily assure all of you that I am a living, breathing, 22-year-old flack working her tail off in the SF Bay Area. Would you like me to send you a picture, diploma, birth certificate, etc., or does that do it for you?

- Michael Morton is a blogging friend who has always been supportive and above reproach in all of our conversations. Joel’s insinuation that his comment is somehow similar to those that the dirty old men leave on Strumpette’s page is grossly unfair and misguided.

- If Joel had actually read my blog he would have quickly realized that I am on his side. I am a beginner in this field and I am trying to learn, grow, and meet others in PR through this blog. I want to further the PR industry, not ridicule or mock it as Strumpette does. My intentions are sincere.

I hope that not everyone finds my blog to be a mere “silly trend” or “gimmick,” as Joel seems to think. Judging by the number of reputable women PR bloggers he referenced in his post (that would be a big fat zero), he doesn’t seem to think that women in PR can be competent at blogging anyhow.

Maybe he’s just too busy looking at our pretty pictures, colorful templates and designer shoes to actually get to the content.

I know that it has been awhile since I’ve posted…but I saw something today that demanded my attention.

On May 31, a particularly detrimental New York Times article ran about the supposed evils of GM. The article’s author, Tom Friedman, went beyond mere innuendos by flat-out accusing GM of supporting terrorists, buying votes in congress to advance its business agenda, and referring to GM as “a crack dealer” for encouraging America’s dependency on gas guzzling SUV’s. Later on in media interviews he admitted that the article had been a bit harsh, but opined that he had been justifiably trying to get GM’s attention.

In response, Brian Akre with GM’s Corporate Communications attempted to get a rebuttal published in the NYT Letters to the Editor section. Read about his struggle with the NYT on the GM FYI Blog here. So far the post has attracted 130 comments and about seven trackbacks. Not only did Akre include the original letter to the editor that NYT rejected, but he also included the entire e-mail exchange surrounding it. Interesting stuff that doesn’t reflect too well on NYT.

This is yet another testament to how blogging can open the floodgates of discourse and expose bad practice, much to the detriment of the scallywag who thought he could get away with it. I read quite a few of the comments, and the additional stories and observations only amplified the negative perception of NYT that this post sparked. One reader even said that he was planning on cancelling his NYT subscription as a result.

My favorite observation: A reader’s comment that despite the fact that in this case NYT refused to allow the word “rubbish” to be published in Letters to the Editor, they had allowed it barely a year earlier in another letter. Hypocritical much?

I don’t think I could say it better than RB Levin did in his comment:

“Now that’s some ballsy corporate blogging! Kudos to GM for leveraging the power of the blog to overcome the power of the pen.”