The worst thing about being in PR is dealing with other publicists. This generally happens in a group meeting or conference call. I can spot them a mile away - the women in super tight skirts and impossibly high heels, the men in bad suits and the 1990s-style goatee. They lodge themselves so far up your ass during initial introductions, you want to swallow a bottle of laxatives.
I was on a call today with a gaggle of publicists from a big PR firm. They talked about their proposal and used the words "strategy," "integrated," and "SM" (for social media) more times than I care to count. Plus a lot of "you knows?" They gabbed a mile a minute and sounded completely rehearsed. As the call continued I grew more depressed. Most publicists are despised by journalists, mocked in the press and generally devalued by their clients. You can see why - many haven't read the magazines they are pitching or don't know how to find the angle on a story. Or they issue statements that so distort the truth, their credibility is forever shot.
I'll ask again: how they hell did I get into this Stepford Clique?
Next time I go to a press event, I want to wear a sign that says "I won't pitch you unless I mean it."
This entry makes me want to switch careers now that I'm in job limbo. I started out studying journalism and had too many people tell me how hard it is to find a job, or that I'd be writing obits for the first five years.
ReplyDelete*Sigh.*