Publicity and the Toxic Shower Curtain

Once upon a time, there was a news conference at the New York University Medical Center led by a doctor representing an obscure if official-sounding group. They claimed revelations about how shower curtains are “routinely sold at multiple retail outlets” and can “release as many as 108 volatile chemicals into the air.”  Thus, the Toxic Shower Curtain story was born.

ABCNews.com picked it up, only to debunk it. But if the story was indeed untrue, its PR methodology was spot on.

Public Relations people want to focus their time on things that pass the “who cares?” and “so what?” tests.  Anytime you have the word ‘toxic’ next to an item everyone has in their homes, you can be fairly sure it’ll get picked up and spread through the Web like wildfire.

Here’s where it can get a little tricky.  Not only are you trying to write your release as if the story is going on the front page, but, you need to think about things like search terms, keyword density and anchor-text links.   As David B. Armon, the President of PR Newswire, puts it: “Every word has to do some heavy lifting.”

The next time you’re putting together a press release for your next big PR play, remember the Toxic Shower Curtain.  We also recommend David Seaman’s book, Dirty Little Secrets of Buzz.