We human beings know that unpredictability is a profound force in our world. No matter how much we make plans, diligently practice and religiously strive to control the outcomes of our days, years and lives, we are all subject to the whims of a universe that is simply too vast, powerful and indifferent for us to control in any significant way. We hate, and love (or is it need?) unpredictability.

Either way, it’s not surprising that a new survey highlighting the latest Nielsen research proves that people still love to watch live television. We’re addicted to the unexpected.

These findings pose a unique problem for PR professionals like us who loathe the thought of losing control of our connection with the public. We’ve learned the hard way that even the most disciplined messaging strategy can be sabotaged by unexpected factors–like Clint Eastwood and an empty chair.

Nevertheless, we must adapt to human nature and harness its formidable power–fighting natural law brings nothing but disappointment and catastrophe, which is why PR students need to study Shakespeare as much as business management. Business is about desire and money, life is about love and unpredictability, and PR is about all of the above. Read more

This week the Republican National Convention highlighted the brutal nature of public relations.

Clint Eastwood, a national icon revered by Americans, seemed like a bulletproof choice as guest speaker for Mitt Romney’s big night.

Our culture worships celebrities for playing characters like Dirty Harry, who represent the tough guy all of us would be if we weren’t really the guys who we are.

Throw up the image of Eastwood’s legendary scowl on the big screen, have the aging Eastwood walk out to the podium, and watch a stadium full of well-educated, well-dressed (except for those hats) people cheer like One Direction fans as Eastwood’s thoughts and sanity painfully unraveled before them–all beside an empty chair occupied by an invisible President Obama. Everyone cheered. The whole time.

It was crazy. F-bomb crazy. Read more

Today in PR Moves That Had to Happen: In the moments following Clint Eastwood’s bizarre, incoherent (there’s really no other way to describe it) speech introducing nominee Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention last night, someone set up a Twitter account under the handle @InvisibleObama, and if it wasn’t someone within the Obama re-election campaign then it certainly should have been. It seems that the account, which was disabled for some time, is now back up and running.

We’ve always loved Clint Eastwood for his gruff directorial style and the blank-faced stares that made the spaghetti Westerns so great (even though we thought “Gran Torino” was extremely weak), but his bizarre conversation with an empty chair representing the President overshadowed the speeches of both Romney and Florida Senator Marco Rubio on the way to becoming a predictable meme (we give “Eastwooding” about two weeks tops). More importantly, he opened the door for someone like the mildly amusing tweeter listed above to poke fun at the self-serious convention.

In summary: All publicity is not good publicity. Will this weird incident affect the election in any real way? No. But we’re fairly sure that Mr. Romney’s campaign has spent the day wondering whether Eastwood was the best speaker for the moment–and the answer should be fairly obvious.

The challenge for Romney’s communications team? Top this move at the Democratic National Convention next month. We’ll be waiting.

Political conservatives who should’ve been paying attention to the game instead of the ads got themselves all fired up over an imagined conspiracy theory about the Chrysler/Clint Eastwood ad that ran during the Super Bowl.

Karl Rove said he was “offended” by the ad, with others on his side of the political spectrum backing up his claims that the clip is an endorsement of President Obama and the auto bailouts.

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