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Repositioning Swine Flu

By: Julie Steininger | 04/29/2009

Last night, Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News informed me that the federal government requested that we no longer call the recent public health emergency swine flu. Rather, we should call it the H1N1 virus. (In my opinion, too technical; one of the key rules of media relations is to not use jargon.) Mr. Williams said the term "swine flu" was "needlessly incriminating pigs." Then, an image of a sweet, pink piglet popped onto the screen. He was standing atop his brothers and sisters, pointing his little snout at the camera as if to say, "I am not responsible for fevers, headaches, sore throats and body aches."

A local radio personality suggested pigs need a good lawyer; his counterpart suggested pigs need a good PR firm. Maybe they just need the federal government to manage their reputation.

Posted in Issues and Crisis Management, Public Relations, Reputation Management