Is this Public Relations?

The Bowl Championship Series, also known as the BCS to non-college football followers, has recently hired Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, to work on its more than negative image. Now if you’re unclear about why the BCS is so hated it’s because they “prevent college football from choosing its champion in a rational way,” according to an Adage article.

They’ve launched a PR campaign that includes facebook, twitter and a series of interviews for executive director Bill Hancock. Now to someone who is about to finish a Public Relations class (and feeling like I learned a great deal) this would seem to be the best option for the BCS except that it might be too late. Judging by the public’s reaction to the Series campaign it looks like they’re going to need to do more to convince them that they actually care about college football. I read a Sports Illustrated article devoted to explaining how the BCS plans to do the seemingly impossible by spinning the BCS into a positive asset for the college football. By the end of the article James Carville concluded by advising the BCS to acknowledge, “that some things just aren’t spiffable.”

The good thing about all of this is that the BCS is finally aware that something has to be changed. They’ve had a negative image for a long time and simply haven’t cared and the fact that they’re finally trying to do something to fix this is important. However, the bigger issue is how they’re going about this. They’ve turned to social media, which is okay for organizations that need to build awareness or recognition but not so good for the BCS who is already very well known and hated. Social media allows for followers to push their negative opinions on others, which is not what the BCS needs. Overall, I’d say it’s a little too late for the BCS, which is upsetting when you think about what good PR has done for other organizations and companies.