Erin’s Blog

With the 2008 election just two days away, I find myself thinking that this election did not come soon enough.  Maybe it is just the fact that I am finally able to vote and am paying more attention to the news in regard to the election, or maybe its just that I finally am understanding all of the intensity of the election, whatever the reason, I’m tired of it all.

I know that this election is particularly important considering the economy and the War in Iraq, but I feel that some people have lost sight of the election and have now just become rude to other people who do not agree with their specific view.  I feel as if this particular election has brought out the bad in people, republicans and democrats alike..  They get all worked up and argue, listening to no one other than themselves.  They get worked up enough so that they even seem to lose sight of why they are arguing in the first place and begin to just talk and cut down others.

It is not that I just don’t want anyone to not care about the election, I simply just wish people would calm down just slightly. Everyone seems to get so overworked about it all. It gets to a specific level where points are not coming across correctly.  The people are so wound up that they can’t even voice their opinions in a clear and concise way.  Don’t get me wrong, I think people should be passionate about the election, but I also think that there is such thing as being overly passionate. I think there is a there is a fine line between supporting a candidate and being a complete pompous jerk to people about their candidate.

If I have learned one important thing in my life it would be to respect others.  With this in mind I find myself questioning those who just forget the importance of respect.  I feel that if a person really wants to make a point, they need to approach situations a little less hostile and respect those that they are talking to. People immediately shut down, stop listening, and go on the defense when people are rude to them. It’s a fact of life. People are now at the point of being rude and have lost their ability to change minds or even make a point because of that disrespect.

While some may find my views apathetic, I completely disagree.  I care who wins this next election, I have a particular candidate that I am supporting and I even talk politics with people.  However, I don’t feel the need to be one of those hostile individuals. I will do my campaigning in a different way, one less hostile.

People have become so serious about the election and act as if there can be no humor (unless of course they are watching Saturday Night Live). The whole election and the election coverage is a huge deal, but I highly doubt that when the first thoughts of the election came about in our country, that they were hoping voters would become hostile, hateful, and mean.

After a weekend like this one, I had to ask myself, Can a football team or it’s staff really affect the public relations of the entire school?  Can one bad game giver Auburn a bad name?  I considered several options and decided yes, a universities sport team can affect the public relation of the school both negatively and positively.

Last night the Auburn University Tigers lost their second game of the season.  This time it wasn’t to a big team like LSU, but instead was to Vanderbilt.  While the game was close by score the game was definitely not close in the plays made or not made and the plays called.  We lost, Auburn was devastated and our top 25 hopes were thrown away.

But is this loss really such a big deal?  Can it really affect the University or the football program?  Sadly, yes it can.  For the remainder of the season we will be known as the team that lost to Vanderbilt.  We will be viewed as a week team offensively.  We will never shake the memory of our pathetic option offense.

Auburn University has some work to do.  Our media relations team will be working to the bone this next week trying to convince the media of several things.  To start they will have to stand behind the choice of Tony Franklin as our offensive coordinator.  The media and Auburn fans, as well as the other coaches, did nothing but praise the works of Tony Franklin.  We all were expecting such amazing thing to come from him.  Because he was praised so much, our expectations were higher than usual and he had no chance to mess up.  Well, he failed.  His offense does not work and people everywhere are questioning Auburn’s decision.  Auburn’s media relations team needs to make this whole unfortunate incident a positive and potentially good thing.

While this may seem like a big job for them to handle, Auburn media Relations has handled much larger predicaments.  A few years back a few Auburn trustees and the Auburn Athletic Director went behind the back of head coach Tommy Tuberville to try and hire a new coach.  Their complete lack of respect for the way Auburn handles situations caused a huge uproar among fans, team members and other coaches.  The view of Auburn athletics was tainted.  People were unsure of the entire program.  However, media relations stepped in and made the situation better.  Our university backed Tuberville and Tuberville stayed.

It seems to me that Auburn has athletic public relations problems covered.  They are able to keep the fans happy as well as those who give money.  It is a sad trust that an athletic team could be such a big deal to the Auburn family, but it is still the reality.  The public’s view of Auburn has Auburn football and Auburn athletics factored in.  Thank God for a good public relations team keeping Auburn University such a great place to be.  It proves that public relations is an important aspect for a company, business or in this case a school.  I’m glad to be in public relations, a profession that has the potential to make such a difference.

When the word “organic” is said what is the first thing that comes to mind?  Some would say natural and healthy while others might think that the idea of organic is just a ploy.  Organic foods are a trend that many Americans have embraced and stuck with.  The environmental dangers that our country has encountered have caused a mass amount of change amongst people of all ages, races and political backgrounds.

As organic becomes more popular different types of foods and products are being to produced to meet the demand of the environmental concerned consumer. There are now organic vegetables, fruits, dairy products, cleaning products, and more.  All products are made to help our environment as well as help the health of consumers.   While I am not strictly organic, I have taken an interest in the idea of organic therefore when I saw the September 8 article on PRnewswire, I was instantly interested.

The article stated that Sterling Vineyards, a well known Napa winery, has started to do their part to change the environmental problems.  To start, they have announced the release of wines made from organic grapes.  They will be releasing two types the 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2007 Chardonnay this month.  While Sterling Vineyard is no stranger to environmental change, the release of these wines is their first consumer based campaign to bring in more customers who have “gone organic.”

The important part of the story is not that they released the wine, but more importantly that they recognized that they too could be a part of such a popular movement. By just finding the way to produce a wine organically they have already increased the possible consumers available as well as increasing their possible financial gain in the future.  Sterling Wines have used a great opportunity to further their business and cause an impact on the wine industry.

To further their promise of environmental sustainability, they are a member of the new group 1% Percent for the Planet.  This group is an association of various businesses that contribute 1% of their yearly net revenues to different environmental organizations. While 1% doesn’t seem like much, Sterling Wines have already donated close to $50,000 to the cause.

Sterling Wines is working to change the lives of people from the inside out. They have changed the way that they produce their wines to cut down on the use of water and energy while also reducing waste.  After correcting their own problems and flaws, they turned to the public.  The publicized their changes and marketed their new products.

Sterling Wines have made their ideals popular amongst consumers, other businesses, and to the public relations world.  They are embracing the idea of public relations and making it work for them.  It is important for businesses to truly value our industry and the things that we can do for them.  It only takes one business to start a trend amongst others and I bet within a year or two most every winery will be releasing organic wines and following Sterling Wines noble lead.

As the 2008 elections roll on the same question arises, is the media too involved? Where do we draw the line? As the Internet becomes more popular, and more people are aware of what is going on in our world, the media seems to just rise to that occasion. However, have they gone too far? Have they gone past newsworthiness of stories and just focused on what will be best to sell the story regardless of the truth or depth of information that they have?

Vicious rumors regarding both parties have surfaced since day one of the elections. Hillary Clinton is a lesbian, Barack Obama is a Muslim, and most recently Sarah Palin’s newborn is really her daughter’s child. Various media outlets have embraced these rumors and fed them to eager readers. But have they forgotten one of the reasons to write a story, newsworthiness. Are these rumors considered newsworthy? Do any of the rumors have facts backing up the claims? Sadly, many readers seem to cling to the lies and use them as arguments against a particular party. Even after the Obama rumor was dispelled, people still refused to believe it. The media knows that people are easy to persuade and they have begun to use that weakness against us.

Most would say it is just politics; it has always been this dirty. The media always attacks the candidates to ensure that the public is informed. This should continue, the media should bring out the positives and the negatives of every candidate. They should let the public know the things that the candidates say and do that may affect their ability to be effective in office. They should keep the public informed of voting discrepancies and wavering views, but there needs to be a line.

Obama said “Let me be as clear as possible: I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people’s families are off limits and people’s children are especially off limits.” Palin’s daughter Bristol should never have been the headline story. While her news is important to the readers and should be given to the voters, her story should not have been more popular than the actual campaign. A candidate’s family should not be a big topic in an election. Their families are not going to potential mayors, governors, senators, vice presidents, or presidents. The candidate needs to be the focal point in discussion, not an afterthought.

The over abundance of these scandal-like stories seems to be more prevalent than it ever was before. Some of the media outlets have become caught up in the hype and interest of gossip columns and forgotten that while the gossip is popular, it may not always be what the readers need to know. It is an internal problem within the various media outlets that needs to be addressed. Our country is in need of the best person to take over as president. American’s need someone who can truly address all of the issues and solve our nations problems. Voters need to be informed and able to make an educated decision on the candidates. Is dragging a candidate’s family through the mud going to ensure this? Is attacking a person based on a false religion going to do this? State the facts, report the news, and don’t drag out a story that isn’t relevant to the issues.

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