Exploring the Art & Science of Marketing
NBC whores out its name in wake of 33 dead people
A lot of the news organizations have been recreating the timeline for what happened at Virginia Tech this week. Here’s a new timeline for you.
- Twisted student murders 33 people in cold blood.
- NBC gets an “exclusive” package with photos and videos of the killer.
- NBC “capitalizes” on it and makes sure its logo is on all the photos.
Way to go NBC News! We’re all glad to know it was you and not ABC or CBS that got these “exclusive” photos of a cold-blooded murder. How much money did you make selling these photos?
| Print article | This entry was posted by Russ on April 19, 2007 at 9:24 am, and is filed under Public Relations. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 4 years ago
I had the same thoughts when I saw the images. In fact, the way the logo is placed on some of the photos (like the one you posted) make it almost look like it was a sticker on the wall behind him.
They’re making these photos look like promo stills for a new action series rather than the grotesque reality of what they really are.
about 4 years ago
How sad. What a stupid thing to do.
about 4 years ago
Also, I think they’ve gone a little overboard with the branding. Do we really need THREE reminders on each photo (image at top left, text credit on bottom right, peacock watermark on bottom left) that these images belong to NBC?
about 4 years ago
No kidding! NBC deserves some serious backlash from this from the public. Maybe a little text that said “courtesy of NBC” or something would be okay, but completely branding these types of photos is just wrong.
about 4 years ago
I can’t help but wonder though, what would the other stations have done in the same situation? With all the competitiveness of the news these days, would they have used it as a branding opportunity as well? If anything, I bet right now their happy they didn’t get the tapes as they’d probably be feeling the backlash themselves right now. Instead, they’re leading the charge against NBC even though they broadcast the same images and video over and over again.
I understand they had exact measures to follow in order to use the tapes, but would the others have shared it or called it an “exclusive” to draw more viewers to one show?
I’m not saying any of it was right, I’m just not jumping on the “I hate NBC bandwagon” yet. It’s nice that hindsight is 20-20 for everyone who didn’t get the tape dropped on their door step!
about 4 years ago
I’ve asked myself the same question. “What would I do if I were the NBC producer who made the call.”
about 4 years ago
Additionally what does it tell all the other individuals who are contemplating this same action. Put together a press packet, kill people, and we will get you more publicity than you could get any other way.
It completely breaks the ideology “don’t negotiate with terrorists”. You don’t negotiate with terrorist since if you do, and they get what they want, what message does it send to all the other terrorists?
These nuts, like Cho, want publicity so if you send the message that you will give them the publicity that they crave you’re going to encourage the nuts to do more heinous acts.
Just a thought…