In Defense of Public Relations

I just love it when celebrities inadvertently get brands media exposure for free. You just can’t buy that kind of publicity.

Take for example the Lindsay Lohan $100 million lawsuit against E-Trade’s TV ad that references the name, “Lindsay,” in the commercial. I’m not an ad guy as you know, I’m a prdude, but that E-Trade ad, in my opinion, was mediocre at best. It won’t be winning at the Cannes Ad Festival or taking home an Addy (though I could be wrong–again not my area of expertise).

What I’m trying to say is simply this, there are other E-Trade ads that are much funnier and entertaining than the one that got the ire of one Lindsay Lohan. With Lindsay’s multimillion dollar lawsuit, it made the ad bigger than what it could ever have been. I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes the one E-Trade ad folks will remember in the years to come. It might just achieve cult status among consumers. All thanks to a celebrity that initially showed good-natured personality (judging by her tweets after the ad initially aired during the last Super Bowl), but turned out to be easily influenced by those around her. That could be why she was in and out of rehab–she succumbs to peer pressure.

The only winner here will be E-Trade, and to no surprise, the lawyers.”Milka-what?”