As a college student I know I probably shouldn't blog about the new form of social media, Pinterest, but as a 20-year-old woman, I am going to do just that. I'm not blogging about Pinterest because the stuff is pretty and creative in order to make this easy, I'm blogging about Pinterest as a helpful hint and a way of acknowledgement for the site. Pinterest has helped me turn some of my old clothes that I thought I've worn out into crafts, or restyle them in a way to turn an old t-shirt into a brand new outfit. I have taken advice from Do It Yourself (DIY) crafts on Pinterest and remodeled my room. I've taken items that I've thought I was going to throw away and turned them into a completely new item, for free, in little to no time.





Above are simple tips for a girl to take clothes she probably already has, or can get for cheap at an inexpensive thrift store, and turn them into a brand new outfit or shirt, for little to no cost. There are an uncountable amount of Pin's showing women and men how to put together a new outfit or how to find different clothing and accessory items at stores and putting them together to create several outfits, so that you get more use out of what you buy.



Many turn to the site to find ways to solve problems or find ways to fix things around the house with little to no cost. Above is a way that you can melt ice cubes, which everyone has access to, to get rid of carpet dents from furniture that has been sitting for a long period of time.





I see Pinterest as a way to save money. I help myself to other enjoyments that I must pay for and I have money to pay my bills because I am no longer spending so much money on crafts and new clothes and items for my room. Above is a craft that I recently picked up with putting Christmas light in old wine bottles to light up the room and give it a touch that not many have seen or had.

I believe anyone can benefit from having a Pinterest account and can eventually benefit others by adding their own crafts and ideas. Many of these Pinterest pictures have directions on how to complete these projects or create new works of art, whether it is through clothes of crafts. The economy is tough but the future is ours and with the help of others we can save our money and create our own luxuries.

Fast food restaurants haven't always been known for using the most effective PR tactics or marketing campaigns. Some have been tacky, some campaign based on their children’s toys or their overly fattening cheese burgers, but when researching creative PR tactics, Burger King trumped all.



I came across a PR professional blogger that had written about a Burger Kind form of advertisement that did not involve media, television, radio or any form of wide-spread public advertisement. Burger King had simply "dropped wallets" throughout cities such as Chicago and Orlando. The blogger discussed how many times when someone finds a wallet they are inclined to return it to the owner, but these wallets were different. Burger King had stuffed these wallets with free money, Burger King coupons and any additional Burger Kind items that one could think of. The finders were told to keep the wallet and therefore, many were inclined to spend the free money at Burger Kind while using the coupons they found.
The author discussed how for many, finding a wallet with a couple extra bucks and some fast food coupons on a fast paced day could make someone’s life much easier, at least at that point in time. Like the author, I thought this was a good form of advertisement. Burger King was simply mixing good deeds, with advertisement, but subtracting the factor of publicity. They weren't trying to make a wide-spread audience show up to spend their money on gazillion of calories; they were trying to benefit others and their restaurant equally.



Although Burger King did a great job by "dropping wallets" to bring in customers without using any form of publicity during the advertising campaign, the restaurant has had their fair share of inappropriate, misleading and shameful forms of advertising and PR campaigns.



Recently, Burger King took the idea that "sex sells," to another level with their sexual, fast food advertisements. The advertisement above, along with many others (that are not school appropriate,) were created and put online for Burger King’s publicity. Many of these advertisements make it seem as though if you eat Burger King the opposite sex will find you more attractive, or if you eat Burger King, rather than getting fat, you will get sexy, luscious curves. Being a female, I find it repulsive that shoving a burger in to my mouth can be turned into a sexual pun. I also hate knowing that the ads are made to make it seem as though stars like Kim Kardashian obtain their sex appeal and shape by eating Burger King Whoppers.

As a PR student and woman, I see these sexual advertisements for a fast food restaurant unethical. That is not to say that I believe that all sexual advertisements are unethical because it is clear that within our society today, sex does sell. When it comes to cologne, perfume, jewelry and clothing stores, sex and body image are top sellers because we strive to have that connection that we see within the advertisement by purchasing the items. But, we will not find those connections by eating at Burger King, unless we find the love of our life there and end up falling madly in love while in line and get married and live happily ever after, body image and all.

All in all, Burger King should stick with the ethical PR tactics that make their business, as well as the lives of others, beneficial.

Now I'm hungry.

For more information on the Burger King "dropping wallets" strategy, visit the attached URL. There is plenty of information on this tactic as well as other creative PR tactics and advertising ideas found within the comments, where the blogger posted comments and other PR professional bloggers whom have made comments and suggestions regarding the subject.

http://progresspr.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/burger-kings-creative-pr-tactic/

Public Relations is a field I knew I wanted to enter during my Senior year of high school. I was working for a media firm, Creative Visions, where I worked to book clients/entertainers to perform at the night club we ran called DV8. Getting to know famous people, singers and performers was a highlight of the job, but the best part was getting to throw myself out there in ways I haven't before. I had to constantly step out of my comfort zone by conversing and entertaining these entertainers (no pun intended).
That's what PR is all about; always being thrown into new experiences and being outside of your comfort zone. Whether your job is in special events planning or reputation management you need to keep ideas flowing in your brain about how to solve situations and come up with new plans. Attached is a link from the textbook, The Handbook of Strategic Public Relations and Integration that would help any Public Relations major understand how to come up with creative ideas to solve your specific problems, how to relate to your problems and exactly what makes an idea creative.

http://spot.colorado.edu/~moriarts/prcreativity.html

What stood out to me about this article is the word integration. All integration involves creativity. We learned in Creativity Theory class how to take an already established idea and integrate it to fit the current situation when we learned about the SCAMPER solution.
Another way that PR professionals have become creative and a way in which I strive for creativity is through green event planning. We're taught in our event planning class that green events are essential in today's times. We must teach ourselves to think green and plan for sustainability as well as for our events goals and objectives. Green even planning involves finding a way to creative less traffic flow to decrease pollution from vehicles, to use recycled materials and materials that can be used several times for our decorations. We're taught how to use as little food as possible and what to do with left-over foods. Green event planning involves creativity in such as way that you have to completely retrain your brain to be able to plan with sustainability.



When many professionals outside of the public relations field think of PR, they often refer to the profession as putting a "spin" to real issues." In a way, that is a realistic term for PR. As an aspiring PR professional I probably shouldn't admit it; however, when it comes to reputation and crisis management, which are the fields I would like to enter within PR, you do need to put a spin to the situation that your client or company is in. You must always strive to find the good in each situation. It takes an optimist to go into these fields of PR and come out with a successful reputation for themselves and their clients. On the drop of a dime, when something is found as shameful from the company or client you work for, you need to come up with ways to turn the situation around to make your client or company shine again.
A good example for creative reputation management revolves around the Tiger Woods incident. He was guilty of infidelity with several woman; however, his PR people were able to get the world focused on his career again, rather than the trials and tribulations he was having with his now ex-wife.
Word spreads fast in the world or Public Relations. Whether it be through social media, media or word of mouth, everyone will find out the good and bad of every situation and I can guarantee that it will be talked about. It is up to you, as a PR professional, to discover new ways to get the positive talk about your client out there and keep the negative opinions in. There are new and old forms of Public Relations that are excellent for each situation, but you must always, always be prepared and be able to think on your feet.