Today we’re happy to bring you a guest post from friend of the site Shawn Paul Wood. Shawn is a PR and copywriting professional with more than 20 years’ experience in the field, and he spent 12 of those years as an on-air host and radio news director. He currently writes for HCK2 Partners in Dallas and contributes to Talent Zoo‘s Flack Me blog; his clients range from notable corporate giants to megachurches, entrepreneurs and even a couple of entertainment bigwigs. Follow him on Twitter!

We have all heard the aphorism, “All news is good news.” One of the champions of that familiar saying is Sir Richard Branson, social media “influencer” and CEO of all things Virgin, who put the sentiment to the test when his airline expanded its routes to Scotland this week.

After appearing at the airliner door and traipsing down the stairs to the tarmac, he took his position on a literal promo platform to discuss the plane’s maiden voyage to Edinburgh. He then lifted his kilt so as to better display a new, um, marketing slogan: “Stiff Competition.”

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Dear Professional PR Women,

Take a minute to check out this great Flack Me blog post lamenting what author Kimberly Shrack calls “The ‘PR Bunny’ Myth” and let us know: Do gender stereotypes pervade the PR industry? If so, how often do you experience them in your professional lives? Do people draw unflattering conclusions as soon as they hear that you work in public relations? How do you deal with offensive generalizations drawn from stock characters in movies and TV shows? We’d love some feedback.

(In frankly unrelated news: Arrested Development never gets old, does it?)