In the spirit of April Fools’ Day—a holiday of fickle follies and unbridled trickery—Turner PR looks back (and laughs) at the Top 3 moments in PR of 2009 that made us wonder, ”Is this a joke?”

Kanye’s Oops-A-Daisy
How can we forget about our beloved producer and musician, Mr. Kanye West? Sure, he is outspoken, slightly unorthodox, and seemingly enjoys basking in controversy; but, he thought he was God. After all, he did pose as Jesus wearing a crown of thorns for a Rolling Stones’ cover. Perhaps that likeness to God gave Mr. West the chutzpah to storm the stage in protest of several nationally televised awards shows over the last few years.

His last stunt at the MTV Video Music Awards was likely his last spontaneous “appearance.” When West, who was clearly intoxicated and uninvited onstage, took the microphone from teenage country artist cutie and Best Female Video winner Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech, claiming that Beyoncé – not Swift – deserved the award, he had us thinking, “Is this a joke?” Nope. He was serious about his claim, and seriously in store for public backlash. His actions led to a canceled tour, a public apology on Jay Leno and a noticeable plunge in popularity—not a good PR move.

Target’s Trick or Treat Defeat
Known to ruffle the feathers of some organizations whom seek equality for select groups, like the NFB, EEOC and the NAACP, among others—Target—with an otherwise squeaky clean reputation, was “targeted,” no pun intended, by human rights and immigration activists for a controversial online Halloween offering.  The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles took umbrage to the “Illegal Alien” costume that came complete with orange jumpsuit, extraterrestrial mask and, most contestable, a “green card” accessory.

After seeing that online Halloween debut, we had to ask, “Is this a joke?” Well, indeed, it did seem a bit off-color for a national corporation to be so insensitive to a particular group, but apparently it was included, according to Target’s spokespeople, “by mistake,” and pulled them from their website.

Balloon Boy: Busted!
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a homemade helium balloon shaped to resemble a silver flying saucer! Attracting world wide attention in infamy is never a good idea, especially when people use their children to gain fame and fortune, as did Richard Heene from Fort Collins, Colorado. Claiming his 6 year-old, Falcon, was in this homemade balloon when it floated away to altitudes of nearly 7,000 feet, Mr. Heene involved national authorities and attracted international media as the flying device was tracked with looming fears that the boy would ultimately not be alive upon rescue.

When the balloon landed, there was no “balloon boy” to be found and the world was wondering “is this a joke?” or even worse, “did he fall out of the balloon?” The saga, lasting a few more hours, was nothing more than a publicity stunt, as it was found the boy was hiding in the house the entire time. Involving the National Guard on a manhunt, closing Denver International Airport, and distressing the public is probably not the greatest publicity stunt, nor is it something that you get out of scot free. Mr. Heene and his wife may have had their 15 minutes of fame—or infamy, rather—but they also were charged with a felony, ordered to serve jail time and pay a lump sum in fines to boot.

Indeed, the aforementioned blunders are all factual but, nonetheless, rather amusing and shocking.

I recently read a compelling interview with Bob Guccione Jr. (founder of Spin and Gear) about traditional journalism, the future, technology and the media business (among other related topics).  I found the interview insightful and I agree with much of what he says.

In my opinion, traditional media isn’t going to go away fully, but it will most likely evolve into something we can’t foresee right now.  It will be something totally different than what we have today.   I think we’ll end up with an overall expansion of the media industry.   However, in the meantime, I think it will become much more segmented… more regional, more personalized, more tailored to interests.

Case in point is the New York Times expanding regionally to offer local news with a national eye.  It’s a smart tact and one I think (and hope) will pay off.  (Here’s hoping they opt for a Denver edition).

Same goes for magazines. I do think there will continue to be a reduction in the number of magazines (very sad to say) but the good ones will stand strong for now.  If I love architecture, I am not going to abandon my subscription to Architectural Digest.  If I love sports, I am not going to get rid of Sports Illustrated.

I believe that if you supply great content and stay true to your consumer base, people will buy it (and this holds true for an online subscription model also).  I attribute this increasingly personalized and individualized content to the Internet and, namely, Twitter and Facebook.   Here, savvy marketers know to reach their already loyal consumer base with a message that will appeal to them individually.

Guccione’s comment is that in the ’70s and ’80s, newspaper editors would ask him how to get his generation to read papers.  His response: “You’ve got to make it interesting.” Guccione goes on to say that one of the problems is “that they haven’t made it interesting to young people. They have not made it relevant.  They are literally anachronistic.  Until they accept and realize that, they cannot begin the treatment that will save them.”

He also comments on how financial folks and shareholders controlled too much of the content in publications – instead of catering to the wants and needs of the consumer and end-user.  He sees this pendulum swinging back and correcting.

Further, he points out that the very thing that is traditional media’s greatest inherent strength is also its biggest asset – which is quality.  Its power lies in the fact that due to natural competitiveness among traditional media, the very best writers are with the very best publications.

Very interesting times indeed.