PR pros share the worst PR advice they’ve ever heard

Everyone loves to give advice.

If you tell someone you work in PR, they can’t wait to tell you their secret tactic for PR success, which is almost always “create a viral video.”

I asked fellow pros about the worst PR advice they’ve ever received. Here’s what they said:

There’s no such thing as bad publicity

Oscar Wilde said, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”

Many organizations have taken this to heart, but that viewpoint makes some PR pros crazy:

Every time someone says “any publicity is good publicity,” I want to stab my eyeballs out of my head. There’s lots of bad advice floating around, but THAT myth/advice is (insert best John Oliver voice) THE WORST. — Matt LaCasse

Perhaps there was a kernel of truth in it—before the advent of the internet.