Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was famous for being many things. He was an entertainer, an entrepreneur, an author, a debunker, a politician and a reformer. Perhaps at present he’s most notably remembered for his showmanship and fantastical hoaxes.
A man infamous for hoaxes may not be the most credible of characters, yet his quotes and business practice have been scrutinized for over a hundred years. One of the principles still often debated is captured in the famous quote, “there’s no such thing as bad press, as long as they spell your name right”.
I always get a little nervous when this one gets tossed around the boardroom. Not only does it fly in the face of consumer intelligence, it’s bad strategy – unless your brand relies on a stuffed “Mer-Monkey” as its main attraction.
Imagine what today’s press would do with one of Barnum’s most tasteless hoaxes:
“…with his purchase and exhibition of a blind and almost completely paralyzed African-American slave woman, Joice Heth, claimed by Barnum to have been the nurse of George Washington, and to be over a hundred and sixty years old”. Wikipedia
This “no such thing as bad press” quote is usually coupled with a comforting tone to soothe one’s suffering during a “bad press” day. It’s the equivalent of saying, “it’ll grow back” for a disastrous haircut; or, “keep your foot in the door” when your foot is clearly not in the door.
I shudder to think what P.T. Barnum would’ve done in the internet age. I doubt this man, who is (debatably) accredited with uttering, “there is a sucker born every minute,” would navigate well in the waters of radical trust.
Another one of the legends of P.T. can be found in the Ripley archives. This legend says that on his deathbed, Barnum confessed that his “Fee Jee Mermaid” mer-monkey was indeed a fake. I imagine there was no look of shock to be found.
It is true that P.T. achieved notoriety. In the end though, his is not a strategy I would incorporate into the principles of social media, smart marketing, or strategic PR… unless of course the Fee Jee Mermaid is your key product. Then the gloves are off.
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4 Responses to “P.T. Barnum and the Social Media Mer-Monkey”
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June 1st, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Traditional “P.T. Barnum” Strategy vs. Social Media…
P.T. Barnum, a man infamous for hoaxes may not be the most credible of characters, yet his quotes and business practice have been scrutinized for over a hundred years. One of the principles still often debated is captured in the famous quote, theres no…
June 6th, 2007 at 10:35 am
This type of strategy was all well and good, when word of mouth didn’t spread too much farther than one’s town. This enabled traveling snake oil salesman to stay one step ahead of their fleeced customers, knowing that they could travel faster than their reputation.
Now that word of mouth (online anyway) can reach globally, be archived permanently, and searched easily it is a different matter entirely.
Instead of the mob being left behind in the last town the carnival rolled through, the mob might be waiting in the next town as they are about to arrive.
June 6th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
In Barnum’s day it was circuses. Today it’s films — and Phineas’s maxim about ‘no bad press’ is almost as true today. Film distributors (and record labels, etc.) would prefer a favourable review. They would also prefer a negative review instead of none at all. We see the logic to that in the number of times a release has been a box office hit despite being panned by the critics.
I agree, deliberately seeking bad press is bad strategy. But consumer intelligence sometimes has a way of compensating for bad press. (“If Schlee says the movie sucks, it’s probably great.”)
June 7th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Gary,
Thanks for that great insight. I would agree in that certain scales, any press may be good press. However, when it comes to the lemons in executive fraud, corporate corruption, consumer mistreatment etc. the lemon-aide may be hard to squeeze.