There's no such thing as bad publicity is another take on this famous statement. I think the last one was used by Oscar Wilde. I am thinking the "Any publicity is good publicity" may have been said by P.T. Bartum.

A few years ago I was part of a business organization for the local community. One year toward the end of my membership, the organization worked a deal with a journalist type person to put out a weekly newsletter. This sounded great!

I'm thinking it would be another way to learn more about business or the community at large.

Oh I learned about the community at large alright. Basically this was a gossip column full of all kinds of opinion based thoughts and snarky comments that the members were making. I very soon unsubscribed to this gossip rag since in my opinion it was a time drain. Time is money after all and the more time I waste listening to or sharing gossip, the less money my business is able to make. After all we are in business to service our clients, not entertain ourselves on gossip.

The other members however loved the newsletter and apparently it is going on strong to this day. I remember one meeting I was in where a young lady was talking about the size of her rear-end, to a close group of fellow business connections. This ended up in the next issue. I think the young woman was upset and embarrassed. Is this good business reading/reporting? I'm not so sure.

I'm not sure that knowing a woman's thoughts about her backside is going to get me to do business with her. Well one could say if this was in a strip club, it might be a different story. This was however not in a strip club it was everyday business.

I am wondering what your thoughts are. Do you think any publicity is good publicity? Or as when this writer sold this to the business organization do you believe one of P.T. Barnum's other statements… There's a sucker is born every minute?

What is your personal brand worth? Is it ok to tarnish your personal brand in order to get your name out there? In this day and age when it is so easy and cheap to get big time exposure through blogging and social media, does poor media coverage have a value? Share your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.

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