Inside the world of Rob Mclean, Author

Consumerist , a subsidiary of Consumer Reports, just had their Golden Poo award. The award is for the worst company in America and this year Electronic Arts won (actually they won last year also).  You can read about the 'win' here. The breakdown of the runner-ups can is provided below (if you have trouble viewing you can see the image here also). Personally I think Facebook, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are far worse than EA, but I suspect those pissed off with EA were more active in the voting. EA had a giant debacle that affected millions of Sim City gamers and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those users voted in the Golden Poo award.

Too funny...

For those not familiar with Reddit it's basically a forum where people post interesting things on a wide variety of subjects. Postings gain popularity when people 'up vote' them and become more visible in their particular subreddit (a subreddit is simply a subject category, like politics or videos). One of Reddit's most popular subreddits is the IAmA subreddit - which allows reddit users to ask questions of various people. Over three million people subscribe to IAmA, which is also widely used by celebrities. An IAmA can last a couple hours during which Redditors (the term Reddit users call themselves) can ask the person doing the IAmA questions. The term "IAmA" comes from the concept of "I Am A doctor, ask me anything", "I Am A movie star, ask me anything" - you get the drift. IAmA's are not just for celebrities, lots of common folks do them as well. Recently Morgan Freeman did an IAmA  and it turned into a PR mess. To make a lo...

Mayor Bloomberg's ban on the sale of large sodas and other drinks in New York is temporarily defeated.  Starbucks had defied the ban, while Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds were prepared to follow it. When the ban went before the court, a state judge blocked the ban. You can read more about it here . Or watch Bloomberg's response below I've never been a huge fan of Starbucks, nothing against them mind you, just never understood the obsession with them. That said, I love that they stood up for what they believe in. Crossing a mayor like Bloomberg has potential repercussions. There's a million different ways the city could become a thorn in Starbucks' operations. I suspect that's why Dunkin and McDonalds fell in-line. The reason why this is a huge PR win for Starbucks is that, in general, people don't much appreciate a politician acting like their parent and telling them what they can or cannot eat or drink. I'm not sure why Bloomberg decided t...

Commercials cost a lot of money to make which is why you rarely see ones that aren't variations on some tired old cliche. The obvious reason for this being it's far safer to merely tweak something you know already works than to take a shot at something unique and original.  That's why I love it when a company does something unique and original.  Even if it's something very simple, it grabs your attention because when you see it you instantly think 'What is this? It's not like all the other commercials.' Wheat Thins new commercial does just that.  It's light hearted, it's funny, it's cute.... it basically gives Wheat Thins that 'hip and fresh' (ugh, I hate those words, but can't think of different ones right now) feeling.  One of the issues with youth is that anything with the word 'wheat' in it is thought of as 'health food' and assumed to taste like cardboard. So connecting with their audience through ...

Odds are you have either the CP stylebook or the AP stylebook or both, but in case you don't and for whatever the reason don't have the money to buy one, you can get condensed versions on the Web for free. Carleton University has a pretty extensive stylebook for Canadian rules. University of Kansas has a nice summary of AP stylebook rules . While these aren't nearly as comprehensive as the actual stylebooks, they are a good resource for the basic reference items that most people turn to the stylebooks for. Most universities have a publicly available styleguide summary, so if Carleton or Kansas don't float your boat check out other various universities for what they have online.

If you haven't heard about what is going on in Cyprus I suggest you take a moment to read Ron Paul's commentary - The Great Cyprus Bank Robbery - which gives a pretty concise overview of the situation.  In essence the bank went bankrupt, the bank turned to the government, the government turned to the ECB (European Central Bank) and the ECB told them to take depositors' money. And so they did - some depositors will lose six per cent, some 14 per cent and some will lose 60-to-80 per cent of their deposits.  What a bloody mess.  I think this may be the first time that a bank has gone in and literally taken a percentage of depositors chequing or savings accounts. In any other circumstance this would be, without question, stealing. The only reason it's not considered stealing here is that it's not stealing when the government takes something from you (I don't know what it is, but legally, it's not considered stealing).   From a PR perspective thi...

Well, looks like it's official, the Democrats will NOT be including a weapons assault ban in their upcoming gun control legislation. Looks like Obama failed to deliver (yet again), in this case to 'deliver real reforms', which he promised shortly after the Sandy Hook mass shooting. What's crazy about this, from a PR perspective is that polls show 56 per cent of Americans WANT a ban on assault rifles (other polls have shown the support ranges up into the 60-65 per cent range). So the majority want it AND you have a string of mass shootings that provide further support for such controls and he still ultimately delivers nothing. This is a great example of how PR isn't the end-all and be-all on an issue. Lobbying and campaign contributions can steer politicians into voting against what the public wants. I just don't get why Obama continues to get in front of the camera (he's done this endlessly on economic issues), tell people what they want to hea...

I've generally paid no attention to what happens in France, but this was a ballsy move on their part. The police are investigating Christine Lagarde's , previously France's finance minister and who now serves as head of the IMF ( International Monetary Fund). The reason I mention this here in my blog is because not long ago I gave Lagarde my PR blunder of the month award  when she commented that despite the Greek people suffering massive austerity they should pay more in taxes, while at the same time, in her role as head of the IMF, she herself pays no taxes on the money she earns (one of the perks of the job working for an 'international' organization). The entire finance industry - whether it's those working in government or in the private sector - continues to be a PR clusterfuck of immense proportions. It seems as though anyone who sits at the top of that industry - and Lagarde is one of the top 10 players in the finance world in her role at the IMF ...

I was kind of shocked to read this a while ago, CVS (which for Canadians is the American version of Shopper's Drug Mart), has implemented a policy wherein employees must submit to the company their  blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and body mass and body weight readings. Employees who fail to comply will be charged $600 annually. For smokers it's even tougher. By May 2014 smokers either must have already quit or join the company's cessation program. From a PR perspective this is a bit mind boggling. It's one thing to implement employee wellness programs which are voluntary and which operate based on patient data which is shared voluntarily. For the employer to force themselves into their employees medical lives is another thing all together. And to levy fines against employees who do not comply is even more absurd. Now, I don't know why CVS decided to do this but I'd be willing to bet that it has nothing to do with their employees' health and...