Memo to PR industry: do not post live animals to journalists

I have heard a horse’s head also sends a pretty memorable message.

“We hope you will be able to except this”, “butterfly’s”…. Jesus Christ, just when you thought the stunt couldn’t get any worse…

This is stupid and shameful.

Wow Vanessa Free, way to miss the point.

I’d fire someone who didn’t know the difference between ‘accept’ and ‘except’

I feel like a PR Manager should know how to use apostrophes. It’s ‘butterflies’, Vanessa. And a stupid idea. Leave the poor things alone…

Nice spelling mistake in the pre-release email – ‘available to except this’. Looks like they were looking for people to make exceptions to the ‘no live animals’ rule.

I’m not sure what is more horrifying – the use of live animals, or the terrible spelling and grammar!

‘Butterfly’s’ instead of ‘butterflies’?

‘Except’ instead of ‘accept’

Eek!

1. There are so many typos and crimes against grammar in Vanessa’s statement I barely know where to begin
2. oh I know…..IS SHE SERIOUS? HAS ANYONE ASKED THE BUTTERFLY’S (sic) IF IT HAS BEEN A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE FOR THEM?

FFS people. No live animals as PR gifts. Ever. Full Stop.

And who sends something to a journo for them to ‘except’ rather than ‘accept’…but on second thought…perhaps it is the right wording?

Do PR companies no longer worry about grammar?

They were also confirming that the journalists were at their ‘decks’ – so either on a boat or relaxing out the back at home? The hits keep on coming.

May have saved the world from some catastrophic events though – those were some butterflies not able to flap their wings for awhile.

Oh dear, there’s one PR group I will never employ. Poor grammar, the failure to learn from the mistakes of others and a poorly thought out execution on a theme doesn’t fill me with confidence in their abilities.

Hoping their service offering includes crisis management.

Was there the remotest chance this naff stunt was going to result in any publicity anyway? When was the last time you saw a story about something as banal as this series being released on DVD anyway. Maybe I’m reading the wrong publications.

Next time Vanessa has an hour spare for butterfly demonstrations, I would like her to put it towards a lesson in how to use apostrophes.

Why all of the references to the PR ‘industry’ when it’s just one company we’re talking about? So there was ‘goldfish gate’ too but these two halfwit ideas are in no way indicative of an entire industry.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of PR firms in Australia that would never dream of doing such a thing. Do you castigate an entire industry on the back of one crappy TVC?

OK. I’m lost. What was the point of this?

I take acception to this.

Well, lepidopterous does rhyme with preposterous !!

Another example of our education system at work. Reeks of laziness from stem to stern.

Call the RSPCA!

I wish Corrie Sanders’ comment had a Like button. Or is it Corrie Sander’s?

Desperate creativity gone wrong.

I think I’ll mail them some dead prawn heads…

It’s probably illegal (might ask AusPost).

T.

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Vanessa’s poor use of grammar yet.

As a Sydney-based PR professional, I can assure Dr Mumbo that I, personally, am no threat to butterflies, social or otherwise.

I really hope you do a follow-up story on the crisis management that’s probably going on right now at this firm.

omg…………….

Absolutely moronic, and un-original to boot!

Vanessa, how about some creativity instead next time?

I once sent a single second hand house brick, parcel postage collect. Then another, and a third. The following day I sent a building plan for a brick dunny. The recipient understood clearly my intentions! A stunt that hurt no living creature….

If you’re going to work in PR and be the representative for an organisation, please ensure your english is at least at a standard high school level.

I couldn’t look past the “Could you please confirm you will be available to except…” and “Butterfly’s”

Appalling.

I’m thinking the butterflies aren’t Free.

Sending any live invertebrate, fish, amphibian, reptile, mammal or bird, as a PR stunt, is very very cruel.

do they look after Cricket australia?

There was an earlier goldfish-gate in maybe 1990 when goldfish were sent to a couple hundred journos at 3pm on a Friday to promote A Fish called Wanda. I remember dozens of fish at TCN9 all lined up in plastic bags and waiting for people that wouldn’t be in the office till Monday morning. The RSPCA and I had a good chat that evening.

This whole story is full of spelling mistakes. If I was horrified at the butterfly idea, I’m appalled at the level of grammar and spelling this PR agency owner has.
Yikes.

I’d like to see this done with spiders.

The element of surprise is kind of ruined if you keep telling someone your bringing them a live animal or if you kept it secret and hyped its arrival and you walk in with an envelope and they’re all like where’s my gorilla-gram rap-troupe hauling a husky sled full of Krug I know I would be disappoint.

” …please ensure your english is at least at a standard high school level.”.

I’d hope they aim higher than the average high school student. (And isn’t it English with a capital ‘E’?)

Living creatures are not ours to treat as we wish. Shameful, where is PETA when you need them?

I feel horrified for the poor little butterflies. And for the words killed during the writing process. Is sending live animals via courier or post legal?

Um. Did anyone stop to think about how cruel it is to put REAL. LIVE. CREATURES. into envelopes? Awful.

This reminds me of a joke involving animals and the postal service.

Q – What does Telstra and an Ostrich have in common?

A – They can both stick their bills up their arse……….

Gotta love it.

“Like” Corrie Sanders……. glad I’ve never seen a spelling mistake or grammatical error in any print or online media outlet!
This was just dumb and unfortunately will probably not be the last time someone thinks it’s a great idea to send a living creature out as a publicity stunt – but hey at least we can all jump up and down and vent on Mumbrella all over again when it happens next time.

I echo all of the above. Call both the RSPCA and the RSPCG (Royal Society for the Protection of Grammar) to take action against Free’s abuse of critters, spelling and punctuation.
Anyone who uses live animals in a PR stunt should be put in a box with no air holes and posted to Pitcairn Island. On the slowest boat.

Correction: Royal Society for Protection Against Cruelty to Grammar. And Animals. That’s what happens when rage blurs your vision.

Prevention of! And that’s what happens when you make fun of other people’s sloppiness. Humbled now. but my point still stands.

From an outsider not involved with this industry, this has been one of the most sickly entertaining threads I’ve read in ages and an excellent example of how appallingly badly people treat one another.

Have you any idea how tragically petty and childish you all sound tearing someone from limb to limb for a spelling and grammar mistake? Seriously? Have you NEVER made an embarrassing spelling or grammar mistake in your career? If your answer is no, then you lie about other things too.

As for the butterflies, go speak to the people who actually work with them day in and day out before writing these pathetically uninformed and moronic comments about cruelty to animals. Good grief. Grow up and get a grip.

Just proves that people in p.r. can’t spell, punctuate, put a sentence together, think on a deeper level than that of a butterfly and have the (collective) memory of goldfish.

As for Miss DaPoint, yes, it’s important that people who charge for their communications expertise do, in fact, have a grasp of English grammar, spelling and structure (or is that too ‘grown-up’)?

You are the one who needs to calm down and get a grip. “Pathetically uninformed and moronic comments” sounds like hyperbole when most people commenting have shown a genuine and intelligent concern for living creatures being treated like postage stamps.

Perhaps we should bundle you up and post you off somewhere to cool off in the cranky corner, Miss DaPoint, so you can think about where all this might end if nobody spoke up about it.

Call me a wimp, but it breaks my heart to see someone using living animals for this kind of thing. It makes me feel beyond helpless.
I couldn’t care less about grammar or misspelling, but anyone with enough experience and conscience would have said no to the client, it’s simply not worth.
Hope its an example of what not to do in the future. As per the PR agency, give the guys a break.

As a longtime journalist/editor and environmental activist, I can’t believe the sheer stupidity and arrogance of these agencies (and more particularly the idiot clients who signed off on the idea) pulling stunts like this.

I’m sure Vanessa Free and the others are now thrilled with the reaction they are getting from the stunt (probably being of the school who believe that any publicity is good publicity) but bet they wouldn’t be so thrilled if they got busted by any one of the relevant government departments who have laws against this sort of thing.

The strangest bit is that anyone still thinks that people still buy DVDs

Billy C – the DVD industry is worth $1billion in Australia… I guess there are a few people out there who still buy in little known shops called JB Hi-Fi?

I can’t believe a PR firm would send a live animal. This seems to be a huge stunt, especially for television which is already a highly-promoted industry. Visuals are important in PR today, but all you need to send is a 30 second clip or screenshot from the upcoming season in an email. This is visual enough. Although the creativity from this firm is something we can strive for, I think we can find other ways (like using social media) to impress journalists.