Snowed in? You should probably have an affair...

If you didn’t know already, we’ve had a spot of snow in the UK over the last few days, ushering in a period of blanket snow, blanket news coverage and numerous actual blankets.

As I write this, the BBC is trying to terrify me with news that the UK is entering phase two of the weathapocalypse – ICE. I KNOW. It seems that we aren’t going to be free of niege-related news for days yet.

Despite my concerns that the major news outlets have neglected to tell us about something rather important, the relentless news coverage of the snow is presenting some great opportunities for PR.

Over the last few days, I have no doubt that every PR able to work has been racking their brains devising ingeniously creative (and tenuous) ways of using the weather to raise their clients’ profiles.

But none so far has been quite as astonishing as the article on Telegraph.co.uk purporting that thousands of men and women are turning to adultery because they are snowed in. Rather a flawed and drastic response don’t you think?

It won't shock you that this story was put out by IllicitEncounters.co.uk, a website that provides a “forum for married people looking to start affairs”. I’ve never been married, but what knowledge I do have of marital life has led me to believe that affairs are rarely planned and researched as if one were buying a tumble dryer. Which? is clearly missing a trick.

Fundamentally, coming to the conclusion that adultery is the best course of action while snowed in is very stupid. Surely it's best to make such a decision when you are not stuck in the company of the spouse you’ve decided to cheat on, and also when you are able to leave the house to actually be adulterous.

But morality and idiocy aside, the effectiveness of this release as a PR tool should be acknowledged. I’m sure that running a PR campaign for a website that actively encourages and promotes adultery is difficult for even the most creative of agencies. But by associating itself with the weather, the website has secured national coverage and successfully increased awareness of its brand.

Like BeautifulPeople.com, the notorious website that recently cancelled the membership of 5,000 people because they had allegedly put on weight over Christmas, llicitEncounters.co.uk is unashamedly following a classic PR philosophy – all PR is good PR.

Comments

[Tim Jenner]

Good article Alex