When your business is a dating site with the tagline “Life is short. Have an affair“, you’re probably not too concerned with bad PR. In fact, you might just be the rare brand that thrives on the public’s hate–a brand like Ashley Madison, the world’s “premiere website for discreet connections” between people who are already married. Hmm…

We thought we’d take a brief moment to highlight a PR stunt completely in keeping with Ashley Madison’s brand ethos. In order to promote its services, the company took out a full-page ad in the Super Bowl insert section of today’s San Francisco Examiner. Here’s the visual:

Predictable “outrage” ensued–and Ashley Madison’s PR firm Bridge and Tunnel Communications capitalized on said outrage to promote its client via naive media outlets like yours truly. They even called the ad “X-rated” in press releases.

We certainly wouldn’t label this a classy move, but it is a solid PR strategy. Why?

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We’ve asked ourselves the question before: Should startup companies with shoestring budgets spend their crucial capital on public relations services?

Of course we always wanted to answer “yes”, but now we have some testimony to back that answer up. According to Ken Gaebler‘s recent PR Daily post, a PR investment “boosts a company’s chances of getting acquired”. He cites his own personal experience, writing that his own tech startup used PR services to help make the big sale–and that any emerging business that chooses to avoid PR firms could end up depressing the value of its own product.

Gaebler’s points:

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