Disney, hotel operators and everyone connected to its amusement parks thought the new Star Wars attraction would be a smash hit. So far, they are wrong. The 14-acre section of Disneyland has been an early flop. What happened? And, if Disney, the entertainment giant, can’t get planning right, who else can do better? Disney, after […]
Posted on August 16th, 2019 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 138 Comments »
Hong Kong’s protesters are testing the limits of China’s patience. They might yet find themselves in a police state without any freedoms they are striking for. It would be terrible PR for Beijing to order troops into the city, but it might not stop them. One can’t forget Tienanmen Square where activists were mowed down by […]
Posted on August 12th, 2019 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 137 Comments »
PR and publicity can go only so far. At some point recipients of messages accept or ignore them. One can persuade but not compel. Consider this example. Railroad authorities have repeated ad nauseum a warning to respect gates at crossings and to never, never go around them when they are down. Yet, a driver did. […]
Posted on February 28th, 2019 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 146 Comments »
Bump stocks, devices that turn semi-automatic rifles into machine guns, gained a horrid name in the Las Vegas massacre a year ago. There is no excuse for them and they should have been federally banned. A year later, they are still being sold in 40 states and there doesn’t appear to be a movement to […]
Posted on September 27th, 2018 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 134 Comments »
After 50 years and billions spent to wean Americans from tobacco, a recent study shows that 1 in 4 citizens still use some form of the plant. Cigarette smoking has declined but the use of e-cigarettes has skyrocketed. This shows the limits of PR. People can be persuaded to go only so far before they […]
Posted on January 27th, 2017 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 200 Comments »
Airlines are cramming seats on planes through shrinking space and seats themselves. Passengers are becoming surly as a result. The airlines’ excuse is that the public wants low fares and to keep them low, they have to pack more people into each plane. It’s public relations. Not really. It’s cash flow optimization. One can appreciate […]
Posted on December 24th, 2013 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 175 Comments »
Authorities are investigating Samsung for paying students to write negative reviews about rival phones from HTC. Samsung is not the only company that has done this. The difference is that it got caught. Such underhanded spin tactics are part of the landscape of modern communications. It is easier now to be exposed for pursuing […]
Posted on April 17th, 2013 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 47 Comments »
This is an amusing tale from an individual at the heart of modern technology. After a quip on Twitter that went viral, Vic Gundotra, Senior VP of Engineering at Google, was asked to stop using the medium by his boss, CEO Larry Page. There was nothing wrong with the witticism. In fact, it was brilliant […]
Posted on December 18th, 2012 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 211 Comments »
Here is an example of the limits of persuasion. The country won’t get moving again until the housing market stabilizes and construction returns, but the housing market isn’t stabilizing — not yet, anyway. That means millions of homeowners are still underwater and millions more of home buyers are waiting rather than buying. What is it […]
Posted on April 27th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 198 Comments »
I wrote about the end of IPv4 and the need to move to IPv6 more than two years ago, and engineers have been predicting the need to make the move for 20 years. Now it is here. There are no IPv4 addresses available in reserve. Meanwhile, the number of internet devices — computers, phones, tablets, etc. […]
Posted on December 8th, 2010 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 203 Comments »
