Effective: My pick for effective use of PR online happened last year. A British tabloid had run a story about a young girl's suicide, linking her actions to listening to music by the band My Chemical Romance. The band posted a message on their website acknowledging the girl's tragic death and issuing their condolences to her family while also reaffirming that they do not condone or encourage suicide. The message continued, addressing the themes of "hope and courage" in their album and ended with the plea: "If you or anyone that you know have feelings of depression or suicide, we urge you to find your way and your voice to deal with these feelings positively." Unfortunately, the message was taken down when the website was remodeled, but here is a link to a music website that summarizes the event and has quotes taken directly from the MCR website: http://www.hiphop-elements.com/article/read/4/25451/1/.
I thought this was effective because in writing the statement and putting it online, the band acknowledges the event and their link to it, while also urging fans to seek help for depression. The statement was featured prominently on their homepage, easily available to fans and other visitors to the site. As a fan of the band and the album, I was happy to see the concern on the band members' part and view the statement as more than just an attempt at protecting their brand and image.
Ineffective: I'm nominating Nintendo.com for ineffective PR simply because it's hard to find any public directed media on the site. Nothing about new games and systems coming out, even though a new version of Wii Fit was announced at E3 a few weeks ago. Nothing about glitches with new games or download patches for the Wii; just a link to contact the company if you are a member of the press. The site is so elaborate and complex that it is a wonder they are not using it more to connect with consumers.
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