Physics and PR

While some PR practitioners may suggest what we do borders on miraculous or mysterious, I offer a more pragmatic viewpoint.

Let’s look at Newton’s third law of motion for answers.

Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I don’t know about you, but I believe it.

Take the current health care debate, for example. The administration proposes one thing: “We need a government option so that all may be insured.” Bam!
Someone else proposes the opposite: “No, what we need is more affordable care, and insurance reform.”

Someone postulates the answer in Afghanistan is troop withdrawal. Then, someone else proposes a surge.

In PR we see Newton’s law work just like your model rocket experiment in senior science class. Just take any old politician: “I did not take money from the lobbyist in question.”
Public reaction: “Oh, yes you did.”

And one of my favorite takes on the laws of thermodynamics stipulates that when you create order in one place, it creates disorder somewhere else.

In PR, this is known as creating a distraction to draw attention away from our client tactic.

Instead of dealing with a catastrophe head-on, a PR ploy is to distract from the central issue. Thus, creating disorder in one place allows you to create order somewhere else.

Don’t you just love these science scenarios? So, the next time someone suggests that you get out the PR crystal ball and call upon the “ghosts of campaigns past” for your solutions, suggest it may be better to head over to the lab and break out the slide rule.

They still make slide rules, don’t they?

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