“It’ll blow your mind away.” Umm, no. Not so much.

As a woman, I’m not sure whether I should be shocked or offended at the latest advertisement by the King of Burgers. But as a public relations professional, I’m most definitely confused.

While, Starbucks is introducing their sandwich and lunch options, McDonald’s is introducing McCafé, and Pizza Hut is rebranding themselves as ‘The Hut’ with new meal options – Burger King is spending oodles of money on cheap-looking advertisements that Bishop’s Finger did better? Heck, Dolce & Gabbana at least gives the sleazy some class…sort of.

Seriously?

Sure, sleazy, double-entendre advertisements are nothing new. In the UK, they keep Ofcom in business. But, if the recession is even affecting the big cats in town, what’s up with Burger King?

No seriously, what’s up with Burger King?

I’m pretty sure, I’m not the only one who does not associates beefy patties, lumpy buns and juicy tomatoes with sexy. Hmm, maybe after that sentence, I should consider working for BK. (Hey, BK hire me!)

Perfume? I can digg it.

Beer? Why not.

Vodka? Of course.

Red meat? Not unless you are Brad Pitt starring in Troy. Sorry.

I was under the impression that the goal of any business was to make money.

When money is in vast amounts, the goal is to attract attention. When money is dwindling, the goal is to reinvest, uproot and reinvent.

Clearly, someone didn’t get the memo.

Sasha Muradali runs the ‘Little Pink Book’ . She holds a B.S. in Public Relations from the University of Florida (’07) and an M.A. in International Administration from the University of Miami(’08). She loves Twitter and all things social media, so you should find her @SashaHalima.

What have we learned in the PR world recently?
- We’ve seen Dominos’ image tarnish in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
* Respectfully, here is their response.
- The KFC mess via Oprah.
- And my personal favorite, KFC attempts to prank El Pollo Loco. Ouch, KFC has had a rough 2009 thus far!

With all these, we learned that word spreads fast. Especially when it’s negative. But let’s focus in on the recent PR stunt that the Golden State Warriors’ PR head pulled.

Raymond Ridder, a 10+ year PR veteran, decides that public opinion about his employer (GS Warriors) isn’t very positive. Forget the fact that they only won 29 games this year, but that’s another issue for another time. So, what should a PR pro do? Let’s go to the source of this negative opinion and try to “spin” the community’s thoughts. That’s ethical, right? After all, it’s up to the brand (again, the Warriors) to shape public opinion. It’s the job of the PR department to shape how our community (in this case NBA fans) is talking about us. We determine the message, we determine the response. That’s how PR works, isn’t it?

I understand that PR has changed over the years. Heck, it’s changed drastically since I graduated five years ago. But I’m pretty sure this was Rule #1 in that ‘Ethics 101′ course I took. You know that class you dreaded because it talked about all those boring case studies. *Professor Menke, I really don’t think the ethics course you taught was boring. I actually enjoyed it.

What this guy did (I won’t refer to him as a PR pro anymore) is basically take all the work us honest and ethical PR folks are doing to clear our industry, threw it to the ground and spit on it. It’s people like this Ridder character, and his actions, that cause our industry to be referred to as “flacks”. Mr. Ridder, if you prefer to be called a “flack,” by all means, we can arrange for that.

You’ve heard of Intel, right? Pretty big company. Let’s take a look at their social media guidelines. Skip over the first section, although it is important, and go to ‘Rules of Engagement.”

#1 – be transparent. You failed there.
#2 – be judicious. He said he did it on his own, so maybe it didn’t violate company policy.
#3 – write what you know. Ummm…I’d say you failed here too.
#4 – perception is reality. Ah, here we go. I like this rule. Well, you had no chance at following this basic guideline, err rule.

I think you get where I am going here. How can a so-called leader of an organization blatantly try to mislead and lie to its community and expect any sort of trust and support from said community? Posting anonymously and trying to “guide the conversation in the ‘right’ direction” is basically like telling your audience that you think they’re stupid. That’s what it comes down to.

If the PR industry has any chance of finally getting rid of the “flack” label that is associated with it, actions like this MUST stop. It’s scary how often basic ethics are often overlooked in an effort to advance an organization’s message. PR folks, you need to realize that the public will eventually call your bluff. Quit trying to be sneaky. Your audience will call you out. What Mr. Ridder should have done is engage his community, acknowledge the concerns and find methods to cure those concerns. Instead, the Golden State Warriors have a bigger issue than their losing record to solve.