As a public relations professional, I have heard many
interesting stories over the years about press conferences going horribly
wrong. From product demos not working properly to botched interviews to
breaking news events across town forcing all of the gathered press to
unexpectedly pack up and leave… I have heard a lot of nightmare tales of the
best laid PR plans going awry. But never had I heard of the star of a press
conference being killed at his very own event… until now.
Last week, a small zoo in eastern Germany held a press conference
to introduce the world to its newest attraction, a 17-day-old rare bunny named
Til who was born with a genetic defect of having no ears. The cute, earless and
shy Til was hiding in some hay on the floor waiting for his big moment while
the media in the room was setting up its cameras and getting ready to meet Til.
That’s when the big moment came… While setting up his equipment, a TV cameraman
took a step backwards and stepped on the tiny Til… killing him instantly, abruptly
ending the press conference and making cute, earless bunnies even rarer.
The shocked director of the zoo later explained that Til
“did not suffer” as the crushing misstep was a direct hit and that the
cameraman was “distraught” over the accident. What a bummer press conference.
As a PR practitioner, you never want years of therapy to follow your press
conferences. Instead, hopefully everybody makes it out the other side alive
with some good resulting press coverage as long as it’s not an obituary.
To add insult to injury, zoo officials have reportedly
frozen Til’s body until they decide whether or not to have him stuffed. Suddenly,
I am feeling pretty good about my next press conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment