Welcome to the bizarre world of 2024! We hope you had an opportunity to unplug and calm down over the vacations — and perhaps even cease scouring the information for a couple of days.
However now it’s time to come back out of that cozy bubble of meals and household and get again to work. So let’s catch you up on a few of the largest PR-adjacent tales of the final couple weeks, and the teachings we are able to study from them as we hearth up for an additional yr.
Harvard’s president resigns
Claudine Homosexual resigned as president of Harvard after months of criticism over each her response to the Israel-Hamas battle in addition to allegations of plagiarism in her scholarship, the Harvard Crimson reported. She is going to turn into the shortest-tenured president within the faculty’s lengthy historical past, having served simply over six months within the function.
In her resignation letter, Homosexual wrote that, “it has turn into clear that it’s in the most effective pursuits of Harvard for me to resign in order that our neighborhood can navigate this second of extraordinary problem with a give attention to the establishment slightly than any particular person.”
Homosexual had been dogged by what many mentioned was a late and insufficient response to the preliminary terrorism assault in Israel that spurred the present battle, a failure to sentence antisemitism on campus and a disastrous listening to earlier than Congress that additionally led to the resignation of the College of Pennsylvania president. The highlight led some to dig into Homosexual’s tutorial previous, uncovering alleged plagiarism.
Since early October, main donors have criticized and fled Harvard at the same time as Republicans have eyed political penalties for the non-public college.
Why it issues: This started as a communications problem. From the fast aftermath of the terrorist assaults in opposition to Israel by way of to her testimony on Capitol Hill, a failure to have a transparent, constant, sturdy message led to Homosexual’s downfall. It made her a goal that inspired some to place Homosexual’s life beneath a microscope, discovering situations from her previous that made it untenable for her to proceed in her function.
It’s a cautionary story for us all: Inform your story or another person will.
And whilst you’re at it (whether or not the plagiarism allegations in opposition to Homosexual show true or not): Use your individual phrases, and correctly attribute your sources.
Pop-Tart levels the weirdest mascot stunt in years
Have you ever ever checked out a mascot and mentioned, “hey, I want that costumed creature would ritualistically sacrifice itself so it may be devoured by hungry soccer gamers”?
No?
Too dangerous, as a result of that’s precisely what occurred throughout Pop-Tart Bowl in Orlando.
Phrases alone can’t do that justice. You must simply look ahead to your self.
Perfection! pic.twitter.com/3z2RVzAUnA
— Pop-Tarts Bowl (@PopTartsBowl) December 29, 2023
Sure, a Pop-Tart-shaped mascot was lowered right into a toaster whereas “Sizzling Stuff” performed and was changed by an edible duplicate which the profitable Kansas State Wildcats devoured by tearing off chunks with their naked fingers.
Oh, and it didn’t finish there.
I requested if it was offensive to eat a Pop-Tart in entrance of the @PopTartsBowl mascot after which its handler yelled out “ITS THEIR DREAM” after which the mascot grabbed a Pop-Tart out of my hand and began force-feeding it to me whereas making comfortable grunting noises pic.twitter.com/PaCDY6mzu3
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) December 29, 2023
Why it issues: It was weird, darkish and garnered a lot of consideration, together with a subsequent reference from a Cheez-It mascot who didn’t need to be eaten, which is a intelligent little bit of newsjacking.
The lesson right here is to not copy what Pop-Tarts did. The lesson is to take heed to your viewers — on this case, nostalgic Millennials who grew up with Pop-Tarts with a style for darkish humor and quirky Gen Zers — and put your individual spin on the meme area. However stunts like this should be true to your model and what your viewers desires. Be large, be daring, be outrageous — however above all, be your self. Even when that’s placing on a extremely, actually bizarre and borderline cannibalistic publicity stunt.
Mickey Mouse enters the general public area
One of the vital iconic characters of all time now belongs to the folks.
Nicely, kinda. Sorta. Not likely.
Steamboat Willie, a 1928 brief starring an early model of Mickey Mouse, has aged out of copyright and entered the general public area. This implies the mouse’s look in that movie — and solely that movie — can be utilized in varied methods with out having to worry Disney’s litigious wrath.
However there are fairly a couple of limitations on that.
Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Duke Heart for the Research of the Public Area, explains the chances like this:
“Trademark: You can’t use Mickey in a approach that misleads customers into pondering your work is produced or sponsored by Disney.
Newer Copyrights: You can’t use new, copyrightable variations of Mickey till these copyrights expire.
Public Area 2024: You’re free to repeat, share, and construct on Mickey Mouse 1.0!”
In different phrases, it’s important to make it clear that you just aren’t Disney, you’ll be able to’t use extra fashionable model of Mickey (no Sorcerer’s Apprentice or Kingdom Hearts, as an illustration), however you’ll be able to play with the model of Mickey from Steamboat Willie, as this horror film in a short time did:
Nonetheless, NPR cautions that Disney can nonetheless discover methods to guard its trademark, if not its copyright, which may preserve Mickey safely within the fingers of the Home of Mouse.
Why it issues: Theoretically, one may incorporate this Mickey into quite a few social media posts or merchandise, so long as it’s clear that you just aren’t Disney. However there are nonetheless authorized dangers at play. So earlier than you Instagram that intelligent Mickey meme, keep in mind to make good mates along with your authorized division.
The New York Instances sues OpenAI
In a transfer that might change the way forward for generative AI, the Outdated Grey Girl is suing each OpenAI and main investor Microsoft for “illegal copying and use of The Instances’s uniquely priceless works,” in response to the Instances’s personal reporting. Whereas the swimsuit seeks financial damages, maybe extra importantly, it additionally calls for the destruction of OpenAI’s LLM which use knowledge from the Instances.
OpenAI and plenty of media shops, together with the Instances, have been in negotiations over fee for the usage of content material in LLMs. Some have reached offers, however the New York Instances is now taking a unique route.
In a press release, an OpenAI spokesperson mentioned the corporate respects content material creators. “We’re hopeful that we are going to discover a mutually helpful option to work collectively, as we’re doing with many different publishers.”
Why it issues: This seems to be a serious watershed second within the media business. Cautious of not repeating the identical errors made within the early days of the web, when social media and search engines like google and yahoo made use of conventional media with little direct fee, the Instances is searching for to make clear the state of affairs and both receives a commission or shield its enterprise mannequin from being poached by LLMs that may regurgitate their work with no fee to the journalists who created it.
This may proceed to play out for years, if not a long time. However the penalties of those negotiations and offers will echo far longer.
Allison Carter is editor-in-chief of PR Every day. Observe her on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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