- Strategic PR blunder causes 7 percent of Mo. parks employees to get laid off -

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-uACT9oKQ-4u5jovb6FRKedlA5QD9BEF8PG0

At Rowan University, the public relations dept. stresses the importance of RESEARCH and STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION to put together an effective public relations plan and more importantly to influence attitudes.

The communications director of Missouri's dept. of Natural Resources probably should have sit in on one of my classes because then maybe 100 Missouri employees will still have a job in the next few weeks.

See link above.

If you're not one for more reading, allow me to sum up the article. More than 100 out of about 715 employees are losing their jobs and according to temporary spokesperson for the department of Natural Resources, Travis Ford, "this is 100 percent about the decline in revenue from the parks sales tax." The article goes on to state that three-fourths of the parks divisions' revenue comes from an earmarked state sales tax and the recession has lowered consumer spending.

Let's completely deny the accountability of the E. COLI IN MISSOURI'S BEACHES!

In the past three years there have been "10 cases... in which public beaches at state parks were not closed despite high E. coli levels.

Where do the research and strategic communication plans come in?

With articles dating back to 2006 about the E. coli in Missouri's beaches, would you not think that a strategic public relations plan would have been put in place to combat the negative attention, perception and attitudes that the media and Missouri natives had about its beaches?

(2006) http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3693
(2008) http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/29177/
(2008) http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kwmu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1310864&sectionID=1

And several other articles.

If they did, it was an epic failure.
If they didn't, they all jumped on the fail boat and sunk along with 7 percent of Missouri park employees.

Travis Ford cannot deny that the media attention on the elevated levels of the E. coli virus did not have a direct impact on the consumer spending at Missouri's beaches. Even worse, is that he continues to deny it now after 7 percent of Missouri park employees will be filling the unemployment lines in a matter of weeks.

Let us not forget the public relations crisis of the E. coli virus in spinach a couple years back. Even with a PR plan in place, the United States Fresh Produce Association never recovered its spinach sales from the crisis. In fact, it knocked down all sales of fresh produce.

Another factor to take into consideration are the attitudes of American's and their health. In the past several years, American's have put more stress on their health, what they eat, who their doctors are, their exercise regiments, the purity of their water, etc. American's want to live long healthy lives especially with the healthcare industry being the moneysucker that it is. American's will not risk their health visiting beaches with elevated levels of E. coli, especially after they have not been shut down.

The smart move would have been to shut down the beaches in the first place and acknowledge the problem and put a plan in place to clean the beaches, in addition to releasing research and tests to prove which Missouri beaches are clean and healthy to visit. Afterwards, an integrated-marketing campaign should be put in place to promote Missouri's clean beaches to help stimulate revenue and create exposure.

I am not saying that consumer sales and the economy did not play a role in this crisis.

What I am saying is that this PR blunder could have been avoided and could have significatly reduced a staggering 7 percent of Missouri park employees being laid off.