10 Yetis Examples of Good and Bad PR - Tuesday 15th January 2019

So we are now 100 days into January, yet are still not quite halfway through the month - go figure. On the day that Gilette released its polarising 'The Best Men Can Be' advert, let's take a look at what's been going on in the world of good and bad PR this past week.

Good PR

In a climate where everyone seems to be at each other's throats, it's always nice to see a lighthearted, fun campaign that everyone can get on board with (maybe even Piers Morgan).

In this case it's AO.com, who responded brilliantly to a great piece of fan mail they received from an 8-year old fan, who said that he liked the cardboard that his mum's fridge came up because he was able to make a no-adults-allowed fort.

Taking great initiative, AO.com responded to the letter in the best way possible, by creating packaging with dotted lines to allow children to make forts easily out of them. A great way to show responsiveness to fans whilst promoting their brand.

Next, comes the announcement of a product that probably no-one wanted, and probably no-one needs, but that I think is brilliant nonetheless.

First fashioned by Marty McFly in Back To The Future, Nike has unveiled their very own self-lacing trainers. Whilst I think that self-lacing trainers are a stupid idea and would probably impede more than they would assist, I think it's a great publicity stunt nonetheless, and is endemic of how lazy we have become as a society.

Bad PR

I think I speak on behalf of most people when I say that travelling is at best a bit of a ballache and at worst an absolute nightmare. At least most people can boast that they are given somewhere to sit when boarding a plane, which wasn't the case for an unlucky family on a TUI flight.

Flying from Menorca to Birmingham, a couple and their ten-year-old daughter were inexplicably given tickets to 3 seats that didn't exist, and were subsequently forced to spend the whole flight sat on the floor, presumably breaching health and safety whilst also making them suffer an uncomfortable journey.

But it's OK though, the family were given a full refund and the astonishingly generous sum of £30 as a goodwill gesture; laughable really.

WhatsApp has found itself in hot water again this week, as a potential bug has been spotted that shows new phone users someone else's WhatsApp history.

An Amazon employee bought a new phone, but it was still registered to the number of its previous user, and she could see the entire history of their WhatsApp conversations; a supposedly secure service. Users of the app have also this week claimed that their old messages have been deleted without their permission.