Campaigning for better credit

In Athens, Ga., a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a television commercial by the Advertising Council and the U.S. Treasury. The advertisement’s purpose was to encourage better credit practices for young Americans. This campaign is a beneficial way to make the public more knowledgeable of better spending habits, especially in a time serious national financial strain.

The national campaign is targeted towards Americans between the ages of 18-24 years old. This age group is targeted because a study by Sallie Mae showed that 50 percent of college students accumulate around $5,000 dollars in debt while they are in school. One out of 10 U.S high schools teach financial management, according to studies done by Capital One; therefore, education on the subject of credit may be quite beneficial.

The campaign’s Website uses an online game to teach young adults about how to make good credit choices to ultimately gain a credit score of 850. The campaign also has radio and television public service announcements that all ultimately say, “Don’t let your credit put you in a bad place.”

Credit card debt can create many financial problems for Americans. It is important that young adults practice appropriate spending habits so they don’t find themselves with serious long-term problems such as bankruptcy. Many Americans find themselves in atrocious credit card debt, so it is important to teach the future generation of adults the power of good credit. This campaign is a step in the right direction toward helping Americans budget their money better, especially with the U.S. personal savings rate at 3.3 percent.

It would be great if this campaign prevented future Americans from finding themselves in the financial bind that many Americans are in today. Hopefully, the efforts of the Ad Council and the U.S. Treasury will be successful.

Celebrity PR: How much is too much information?

Have you ever felt as if some celebrity gossip was just too much information? For individuals under constant public scrutiny, it is important that simple interviews and public statements do not include information that can damage their reputation.

As a avid scourer of the daily headlines, I am curious as to why some celebrities feel the need to make so many aspects of their private lives public. Although I realize that any press is good press, I am confused as to why celebrities want to jeopardize their reputations by making public statements about their divorces and intimate relationships. One couple really comes to mind with this subject. We’ve all seen Jon and Kate Gosselin plastered on headlines and magazine covers. Both Jon and Kate have done countless interviews for tabloids commenting on their marriage, alleged affairs and family. With all of the new publicity, the couple went from America’s favorite family to D-list pariahs within months. Seeing them appear daily headlines only makes me wonder if the content of their continuous interviews is what turned their reputation sour.

Making too many public appearances on a particular story can also damage reputations. The story of Mackenzie Phillips’ incestual relationship with her father came as a shock to the public. People felt intrigue in her story, but when she appeared in several high profile interviews, some felt as if her “brave confession” was only a publicity stunt to sell books.

If celebrities want to continue to be respected in the public eye, they should be very careful with the nature of the information they share about their personal lives.

“Friend of the family” with malicious intent

Over the weekend, the remnants of what was Washington Mutual officially switched over to a new title. Last year, WaMu went bankrupt and was sold the monstrosity that is JPMorgan Chase. Before Washington Mutual’s eventual buyout by Chase, their motto was “friend of the family,” and in my experiences, they lived up to it. Apparently, there was a different side to the bank…

In researching the final days of the bank I’ve utilized since I was 15, I found that their downfall might have resulted from poor public relations. In the wake of the housing market crash, WaMu took on predator-like tendencies, targeting home buyers to borrow with an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). Their justification for this was, “Pay less on your mortgage and take that vacation you’ve always dreamed of.” With the eventual housing market crash and the thousands of home foreclosures every day, I’m pretty sure that putting mortgages aside to pursue vacations is only a pipe dream. Essentially, the nontraditional ARM  tricked customers into borrowing with extremely low rates.  Then after a month, the payments soared to double or triple the amount.

Following a less-deceitful and more transparent plan might have benefited WaMu and their borrowers. Now, thanks to the ARM, WaMu and thousands of borrowers are out of business. It seems as if WaMu forgot that cheating their stakeholders would eventually come back and haunt them. This rule does not apply exclusively to banks; deceiving stakeholders is bad business anywhere. According to an article by the Seattle Times, many borrowers of WaMu felt taken advantage of because of tricky tactics and incomprehensible loan terms. This goes to show that WaMu wasn’t effectively communicating with its customers.

Better late than never

Since the start of my fifth fall term at the University of Oregon, I’ve been contemplating my inevitable plunge into the social media spectrum. Now, three weeks into it, I’ve decided to take a dive into my first unnerving task: the blog.

The public relations scene has developed into an online frenzy of activity with building connections, posting opinions and keeping in contact. This is something completely new to me, and I’ve decided to embrace it. Although I am new to social media, I’m becoming more and more intrigued with what it offers to public relations and to the practitioner.

I’ve had experience doing public relations for the campus magazine, Ethos, helping with events and fundraisers to support the non-profit magazine. My spare time activities include seeing the world and broadening my perspective.

This blog is geared towards anyone and everyone interested in public relations. My future posts will contain thoughts about current public relations events and topics discussed in my public relations classes. This is the start of my entrance into the blogosphere, and I am excited to see what it has to offer.