• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, December 15, 2016

If “Communications” (with a capital “C”) is supposed to be a profession, then it’s amateur hour in some sectors of the publicity business.

Let me please emphasize that the following examples of correspondence – i.e., emails -- that I have received recently from some in the publicity business are not typical overall of the entire publicity profession. 

I work with hundreds of these people, and on an average business day, I receive something like 30 emails an hour from the publicity apparatus that is appended to the television business. However, I actually read only a fraction of these past the several lines that are visible in my inbox.

When I make this extra effort (based on a judgment formed from the first few lines that the rest of the announcement might turn out to be something I might write on), it is then that I sometimes find examples of communication (or the lack thereof) that leave me scratching my head and then contemplating writing a blog post like this one.

The impetus this time was a press release that came this week reporting on Comedy Central’s decision to go ahead with a new comedy series called “The Detroiters.” The press release came from an outside p.r. agency hired either by Comedy Central or the producers behind this show, Lorne Michaels and Jason Sudeikis.

At one point, the press release offered this description of the show: “ ‘The Detroiters’ follows the story of best friends and fledgling ad men Sam and Tim, who may not have the money, connections or talent that the big guys do, but they have ambition out the wazoo [italics added].”

Out the wazoo. The phrase was jarring. It seemed like an ill-considered phrase to apply here -- a phrase one might use in everyday conversation with someone like a friend, but one that doesn’t feel right when included in a piece of business communication. It came across as bad writing, as if the writer couldn’t be bothered to find some other way to say the same thing.

If there are other views out there on this, then I am interested in hearing them. What happens to me when I encounter writing like this in a press release, however, is that I immediately discount the press release’s credibility and then react dismissively to the subject matter. 

And by the way, I looked up the word “wazoo” in my dictionary. It is slang for “anus.” To me, that’s gross.

Coincidentally, the city of Detroit figures into another example of carelessness encountered recently in a press release. This one came from another outside agency on the subject of the upcoming season of “This Old House.” The release announced that the show would be rehabbing a house in Detroit.

The release identified Detroit as the “capital city” of Michigan, which it is not. That distinction goes to the city of Lansing. Mistakes like this are understandable. I make them too from time to time.

Being a good guy who is always on the lookout for opportunities to make myself useful, I immediately sent a friendly, helpful note to the publicist pointing out the mistake. I wished to make the error known quickly to spare her any undue embarrassment from others who might not have reacted as kindly as I did.

A few minutes later, an amended press release arrived in my inbox. But did I get a thank you? No.

Another press release arrived recently from someone in which the phrase “Yeezus Christ!” figured prominently. If memory serves, it was in the headline and elsewhere in the announcement.

Perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood for any more cheeky press releases that day, but I remember thinking that the use of this phrase was careless, offensive, and more to the point, insensitive to Christians.

I am not a member of this religious group, but I try to consider all viewpoints. Whether or not I overreacted in my rejection of this release is not the point. But the fact remains that I didn’t absorb the contents of this release at all before pressing the delete button.

Another common type of communications I see a lot now is the “abbreviated” message perhaps banged out on a smartphone. One email I received recently from a publicist -- a very experienced one who represents a very large company -- went like this: “Hear our current season numbers.”

Do I really have to explain what is wrong with this? OK, I will: Not only does this “correspondence” constitute poor English, but it makes the recipient feel as if this publicist couldn’t care less about him or the news organization he works for. The “him” here would be “me.”

My dear publicists, your business is supposed to be a profession -- the profession being “communications.” Am I wrong about this?