Getting PR by doing the wrong thing

I don’t know about you, but I don’t know anyone who watches beauty pageants.  I have nothing against them, but it seems the days of Bert Parks and the glamor of Miss USA have come and gone a long time ago.

Unless there is a screw up, and then everybody watches.  It seems that’s what the internet was made for; what YouTube watchers live for.

Case in point — the 2015 Miss Universe pageant where Master of Ceremonies Steve Harvey mistakenly announced the wrong winner.  The actual winner was Miss Philippines but he called out Miss Colombia, who for a few moments in the spotlight was actually Miss Universe until she was stripped of her crown and was demoted to First Runner Up.

It was an honest, yet colossal mistake that hit not only the internet but mainstream media like a firestorm garnering much more attention than if no mistaken was made.

The lesson learned is if you want attention, do something that makes people gasp, laugh or turn red.  But that comes with a price.  While some suggested it was all planned to get attention, I doubt it.  The embarrassment to Steve Harvey was evident and doesn’t do much for his resume if he was in on it, which he wasn’t because it was unplanned.

So congratulations to the new Miss Universe 2015 Miss Colombia, um, I mean Miss Philippines.