Devoted to online marketing, viral marketing, and web marketing

The recent law suits against Isiah Thomas and Bob Barker are interesting from a marketing and branding standpoint, as it seems over the long term they don't really do that much to impact a company in a negative way - at least in the entertainment world.

As Susan Gunelius says at marketingblurb, the more publicity someone gets in the entertainment industry - whether bad or good - the more they seem to thrive. Of course there are secondary things that can happen like Britney Spears losing custody of her children, even while a new single track moves up the charts. It can be a double-edged sword in those cases, but not professionally most the time.

I think one reason this type of stuff happens - even in the corporate world - is the shear volume of news that is available to consumers.

Even in marketing it's hard to break through all the clutter out there for the same reason. Our message can be hot for a short time, and the volume of new campaigns by competitors and even non-competitors, can cloud and cause our message to be forgotten very quickly.

As Gunelius point out, even in our corporate public relations it doesn't take long for the next, new story to enter into the minds of consumers and off they go to dig into that in the short term.

The point isn't that we should encourage behaviors that alienate people or business partners, the point is that even in the toughest times, it usually only has a temporary effect on a business if something negative happens. The impact is basically negligible over the long haul.

Why is this the case? People look at news as entertainment. They like to look at the foibles and drama that unfolds in the corporate and entertainment worlds. The line between the two is blurring.

Look at Tonya Harding who ordered an attack on her skating competitor Nancy Kerrigan years ago. While she's a villain and in many ways a comic figure, she's the one you remember, not Kerrigan.

All of this relates to publicity, public relations and marketing. Again, this isn't advocating poor behavior, just noting that drama played out in the public eye draws attention for similar reasons reality shows do: it's a form of voyeur entertainment and satisfying of curiosity.

The other side of this is while various actions played out in the public eye can gain notoiety for a company, it can also cost them in the litigation phases of the drama.

Even in the worst of times things are only temporary. That's what we need to realize as events at times swirl around us and our companies.

While people will forget what's happening today, we do need to make sure we keep things on the legal track to the best of our ability. Consumers can forget what happened, but if you're serving jail time, that isn't going to matter.