Great article. Stephen J. Cannell had a Nineties show called "Renegade" w/Lorenzo Lamas as bounty hunter on the run Reno Raines. In one episode Reno posed as a repo man and took one of the Rockford Firebirds. Coincidentally, the bad cop who set up Reno was played by....Stephen J. Cannell. Not one of his best but watchable. I also recall a VW print ad where the cae jumped over a group of older cars, including a gold 77-78 Firebird.

Good info. Thanks Jim!

OMG, this is twice in one week that I agree with RepMan! At least Civil War re-enacters are experiencing history as a hobby; this is beyond creepy. You took a humorous look at this. I guess my reaction is more sober. Is the success of this event a reflection of something in our culture? Maybe it's driven by two decades of reality TV. Or that people need to be part of the suffering of others because they can't feel for themselves? I don't know, but sometimes I get an idea of what the late Roman Empire must have been like.

I agree that Yahoo's death watch is well underway. Aside from the wasted human capital, there is also value within Yahoo's unspectacular, stolid user base. When the inevitable happens, it will be kind of like what the assets in a Chapter 7 of a really big company are really worth. It'll be interesting to see how Google, Bing, whomever absorb that business.

Though he's a bit rough in making it, Isaac has a point. My question is whether these awards really help generate business for small- to mid-size firms? Isn't a solid portfolio of successful, targeted campaigns a whole lot more meaningful to both morale and business development than these gleaming shelf-sitters? An Edelman or Ketchum has these costs in their business model. They need to do this to keep their cultural currency, use it as a marketing tool, and to satisfy egos on both the mgmt and client side. They'll keep up the spending, and the programs will continue catering to them. Even if those entry costs were to magically come down for smaller firms, will it then be worth making 20 Sabre entries? After all, the time/expense of preparation will still be there.

Any contract hire at a fly-by-night marcom outfit knows that this is a time-honored scam. Somehow it doesn't really surprise me that the bigger fish would embrace this tactic. If anything, they're more arrogant about it - they assume that both name recognition and a compliant trade press (as RepMan points out) will keep the wolves at bay.

I was still a nice guy then, Repman. I was a complete monster from about '95 through '05.

I only half-agree with you, Bubbles; a woman who has a modicum of self-respect will buy into Bad Boy behavior...for awhile. It's the truth and we all know it. After that, it gets very old. Hey, everyone makes mistakes. I'm not sure it's much different than those insecure middle-aged rich guys who chase fashion models the same age as their daughters. Don't they always convince themselves the sweet young thing on their arm isn't after the money?

My former agency once worked for a certain Asian car company that's now definitely second-tier if not lower. Back then, as now, they had one great niche product. The difference was that back then they wouldn't bring it over from the mother country despite enthusiast clamor for it. To spur management and create buzz, we came up with a road rally program designed to get enthusiasts of limited means involved in motorsport. While the marcom people loved it, the sales people -- from whose rank the showboat COO rose -- said the product would never do enough volume to make it worthwhile. As we later found out, they were only concerned with jiggering the monthly sales numbers and wrote up a lot of bad loans before being fired. They hired an agency without a significant auto portfolio for more consumer marketing, but the end only wanted same-old, same-old. One of the clients' competitors whom you might have heard of -- Subaru -- has adopted many of the same strategies with its WRX STi all-wheel-drive performance compact. I have other ideas that haven't seen the light of day but I won't share them. That's because I've become a believer in Blair Enns' no-RFP, take-no-prisoners Manifesto, which I apply to creative services but can work just as well for PR: http://www.commpro.biz/advertising/to-hell-with-the-sell-a-12-step-manifesto-to-stop-pitching-free-creative-away-to-prospects/#.T2lULfSFzGg.facebook

What continues to amaze me is how otherwise smart women persist in believing that she's the one who can change a bad boy. Best example: Sandra Bullock's humiliation by porn-star cheating Jesse James right after she won the Oscar. The one thing I wish I'd learned earlier is that the biggest aphrodisiac to such women is complete unreliability, mystery of a man's doings, and the power of the word "No." I say this as a longtime good boy who got sick of losing out to bad boys at 30; I joined that club for about 12 years before becoming a happily married man.

Koz is now on work-relase with a Central Park view: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/dennis-kozlowskis-homecoming-of-sorts/ Is there anyone left who can disagrees that One Percenters are different than most people?

Isaac - It's always been about making money. The question is how, and with what commitment to client service and long-term growth. That's where Goldman has gotten itself into trouble. What you're essentially saying is "they all do it," so kick the bums out. The solution isn't that simple, much as we'd like to think so. Goldman wasn't dumping toxic sludge into rivers; they're making money by investing rich people's money badly. It's not quite the same thing. With all due respect, I think you're idealizing Greg Smith way too much. Read his Op-Ed again; he's talking about Goldman Sachs back in 2000 like it was "the good old days." C'mon, really? While I admire his guts and what he's saying, Smith is being a bit self-aggrandizing; he reminds me a bit of that JetBlue flight attendant who quit in a blaze of glory. How can anyone expect the troops to put their trust into someone who is essentially a whistle-blower? For what it's worth, I do think these latest PR disasters are gonna hurt bad, and Blankfein's string has probably run out.

Good post. The thing is, Greg Smith's 15 minutes will pass and Goldman Sachs clients will consider their options, if they aren't doing so already. Will things really change? One thing that's been lost in the shuffle is that GS' brash, combative PR bulldog Lucas van Praag has been replaced with Richard “Jake” Siewert Jr., a smooth operator who's worked for Timmy Geithner and has strong ties to the Democratic Party. Do you think he'll have any influence on the culture?

Interesting. Last night we walked from Penn Station to Herald Square and saw the new JCP logo outside the Manhattan Mall logo. My thought: "how dumb." I'm willing to bet the marketing geniuses who came up with this just HATE that the name most consumers refer to the retailer by is "Penney's." Their rationale was probably something like this: a huge rebranding and marketing effort will change those idiots' perceptions in no time. Will it work? Check for the answer at notgonnahappen.com.

I don't see how yoga can be in the Olympics except by the most superficial of criteria. The Olympics is and always should be about competition. Yoga is anything but that. The two ends just don't meet.

Stephanie/Morgan: Interesting post. I agree with you that the fault lies with the person who has their hand in the cookie jar, not the institution. I'm not familiar with John Friend and Anusara Yoga. The yoga sex scandal I'm most familiar with is the one that went on at Kripalu in Lenox, MA in the mid-1990s. Founder Amrit Desai proved, like JFK, Bill Clinton and many others with gifted leadership skills, that he was all too human and weak when it came to temptation and the power of his personality. It's not uncommon, and yes, it's a bit cult-like. From a reputation management standpoint, Kripalu were very straightforward in handling the scandal. No one tried to cover it up. It is now the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, transforming itself from an ashram led by one strong personality to more of a spiritual retreat. Kripalu's Senior Scholar in Residence, Stephen Cope, wrote an excellent and honest account of the scandal in his book "Yoga and the Quest for the True Self." As for William Broad, he's been on a publicity blitz for his new book. It's easy to be cynical and say the recent spate of Times articles and his focus on the sexual origins of Hatha suit his agenda and sales goals. On the other hand, Broad has several valuable things to say about the responsibility of both yoga teachers and students. In the popularity of yoga and the aggressive marketing of its lifestyle, people may not be as mindful as they could be in their practices, or how they teach others. That may not be comfortable for everyone to hear.

Interesting RepMan, we actually agree on something this week. The 2011 Mets finally made me a Dis-Believer (RIP, Davey Jones). Any organization that hapless, inept at managing its own talent and contemptuous of its own customers doesn't deserve my hard-earned dollars. When our little Mets clique started asking if we had bought any 2012 CitiField tickets, or if we're teaching our 5-month-old to be a Mets fan, the best reaction I could muster was "I really don't care anymore." And it's true. But yeah, give Wilpon & Co. credit where limited credit is due for low expectations. My low expectations company is the socially conciuous long-distance company CREDO.I've had a lot of tsuris lately with birth pictures I can't retrieve from my previous cell phone: http://hellhappiness.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/planned-obsolesence-versus-at-birth-pictures/ I know CREDO does the right things with how they donate a customer's money. Still, how can they not be up front and their lack of back-up data options or that they won't stand by the products they sell past their limited shelf life?

At least now I understand your logic, even if I find it a bit tortured. Still, I can't agree that indifference in this case equals discrimination -- especially when it's compared to something like Jim Crow laws. Friendly suggestion: Don't try this one out on a stand-up audience.

To avoid being labeled either verbose or vitriolic, I'll agree that PR's lack of gender balance has become alarming. Clearly, more needs to be done by the profession to change this. But as troubling as Steve Andrews' comments are, I just can't see quantifying this trend as discrimination, reverse or otherwise.

Did both Erin and I misunderstood your post? I appreciate your clarification, but it sure sounded like you were complaining that opportunities for men in PR were declining, and suggesting that discrimination exists against men as a gender in the PR field. That would border on the ridiculous. Yes, I was a recruiter and proud of it, though I've since gone on to much greener pastures. And I certainly witnessed discrimination by clients for all kinds of reasons, including age and appearance. I encountered male candidates who felt the "culture" of certain employers didn't fit what they wanted. Reaching deeper, I often learned it was because women ran the place. But that's not discrimination as I understand it if the candidate would have been hired. Regarding why the next generation of men are rejecting PR, wouldn't it be fairer to say it's self-imposed for all the reasons we've all aptly described? I'd also add that many PR operations have a reputation for being reactive rather than proactive, the profit margins are low, the managers don't always know what they're doing, the politics are enervating, you don't always get that "seat at the table" that top PR pros say the industry now has, and yes, the hours are long and the starting pay is lousy. You can't discount those factors as turn-offs. Many college grads, both men and women, leave the field within 3-5 years. Here's a final thought: in a professional world where men and women are increasingly getting more equal opportunities, men may feel most comfortable in an environment where they don't feel their gender might be a hindrance. That could be anything from oil rigging to raising your children. From a perception standpoint, PR isn't one of those fields. You're correct that the field has to overcome this. You seem a bit vitriolic today, Repman. Did someone not wake up on his happy side?

Repman, I'll believe your theory when Spike TV or FX creates a successful reality or scripted show about the trials and tribulations of guys at a PR agency -- getting a beer or razor account, sleeping around, being accused of sexual harassment, etc. I'd also be very likely to watch it. What I have a hard time believing is that there are too many men who suffer through "Kell On Earth," "SITC," etc. I know that you only do it for professional reasons, of course.

While I agree that the professors' reasons for more women than men in PR are superficial, I don't think "Hollywood" and its portrayal of airhead PR types like Kim Catrall on "Sex in the City" is a legit answer either. I will concur that more young men may think PR is a "women's profession." More PR and communications departments are being led by women. That is being celebrated, as Repman points out. Is it possible that in 2012, men perceive that several industries now have working environments that favor women and cut them off from chances for advancement? I can see a number of women being upset by that statement or seeing it as ridiculous. It's possible that one of them shares my home. I feel uncomfortable saying this, even as a man who's mostly comfortable around women in situations that are new to me - shameless plug for my own blog here: http://hellhappiness.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/the-only-guy-in-the-room/ Still, that's my view. I see this as just one part of an overall paradigm shift now occurring in both education and the workplace.

You're right on the money (emphasis on that word is mine) about the Catholic Church. But in the world of big-time religion, they're like General Motors. It'll take many more decades, maybe even another century, before they'll be forced to acknowledge just how badly the rot has set in. One of the things that keeps them pretty well insulated in the Vatican is real estate. Even if the people aren't contributing to the coffers like they used to, there's always stuff to sell at high value!

I use credit cards, RepMan....and pay them off every month. That's part of my definition of success too. Wish I could say the same about the mortgage, though.