Discrimination at the best of times is not nice. When PR folks do it – especially to media – that is just red flag to a bull.
If you are on social media, and deal with PR, you probably have seen or come across the #UAEPR hashtag. Its one that is used (mostly) by the journalists to poke fun at us PR types and our foibles. It is also used quite properly to flag certain issues. Most of the time the jokes have some pretty solid basis i.e. there are some real idiots out there under the guise of PR. By the same token, there are some good ones and occasionally (okay so its a lot rarer) the hashtag has been used to flag these too.
Last week though, there was a serious breach of manners and, rightly, the blogger that tweets under the name of @sandierpastures felt so strongly, she had to do a post. Aside from the sheer bad manners of being a host – how do you invite someone and not serve them food, there are several mis-steps some of which Grace has addressed in her post; but the biggest one was of discrimination. There were several long conversations on the topic (some are under the hashtag #UAEPR) last week.
@sandierpastures @mita56 @Jasetwit anyone who assumes your time is less valuable than others, must be told otherwise. walk out, I insist.
— megha merani (@dxbmaven) June 10, 2015
How can you discriminate between media? It doesn’t matter about the Tier 1 and Tier 2 or Tier 3. If the media was on your list and they came to the event, you treat them equally. On a practical note, for a consumer brand (especially when it comes to hospitality), you are probably better off working with bloggers and social media types since the publicity you get will be genuine and immediate. Then there is the perceived (and trust me this was felt if the tweets were anything to go by) discrimination about race. How can we as people (especially PR) be doing this in this day and age and in a community that is so multicultural? My suggestion, if they are not that important for you and your client, don’t invite them. By inviting them and mistreating them, you are not only not getting any support from these bloggers in future but you have generated negative publicity. And a free meal will not make up for this breach of bad manners.
And don’t get me started on the restaurant. it hasn’t been named but whoever it is, its in hospitality and in the business of feeding people. It just lost the business of a table full of social influencers.
