Strange Fruit PR Firm Vanishes After Getting a History Lesso

[gazpacho]

I can't believe that this firm existed for 2 years without anyone mentioning the potential issues with the firm name.
*****************
www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2014/12/strange_fruit_pr_firm_vanishes_after_getting_a_history_lesson_from_twitter.html

You’d think a public relations firm would know better. You'd think it would research a name before using it for a company. You’d think someone would have pulled the person aside who was in charge of the Strange Fruit PR firm and let him or her know the history of the song bearing the same name by Billie Holiday. Now why would you want to have your company's name associated with a song about lynching. Especially if it’s owned by two white women?

But of course, doing research would have made way too much sense.

Instead, the public relations firm had to learn a hard lesson via Twitter.

Strange Fruit PR, based in Austin, Texas, seems to have vanished into thin Internet air. Although the firm has been around since 2012, it wasn’t until this weekend that its name caused a stir on Twitter.



Strange Fruit’s name didn’t last long after that. The company has seemingly deleted all of its social network accounts, but before it went off the grid, it did release an apology:


It may also want to think about leaving the public relations world behind also.

[saz]

Why wouldn't you google a potential company name before starting the company? At the very least to make sure there aren't other companies already named that, but also to make sure your clever little name doesn't have a meaning you are not aware of. These people are idiots and are in the wrong career.

[gazpacho]

Dec 8, 2014 12:17:36 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

i had no idea there was a song about lynching called this. i know the term is used in a doors song, i think.

Yep...a song made famous by Billie Holiday.  When I hear "strange fruit", this is what I think of.

Lyrics:
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop

[LoveTrains]

I also had no idea that this term had any sort of negative connotation or that there was a song about lynching with the name. That being said, if I was starting a PR firm, I would google the shit out of the name first.

So clearly these ladies were either a) really crappy at their jobs (and clueless) or b) racist bigots.

[pixy0stix]

::face palm::

[LoveTrains]

Dec 8, 2014 12:24:41 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:17:36 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

i had no idea there was a song about lynching called this. i know the term is used in a doors song, i think.

Sorry!

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2014 12:24:45 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

I also had no idea that this term had any sort of negative connotation or that there was a song about lynching with the name. That being said, if I was starting a PR firm, I would google the shit out of the name first.

So clearly these ladies were either a) really crappy at their jobs (and clueless) or b) racist bigots.

You would think they'd google it just to see if it was in use by someone else. 

I seriously doubt they are racist bigots though. Just ding dongs.

[mbcdefg]

I don't necessarily fault them for not knowing the history behind the phrase. I didn't know about the song until college.

That being said, it's bizarre that they didn't Google the phrase to see what came up in a search, before they settled on that name. If nothing else, I would think that they'd want to see what kind of search engine optimization they'd have to do in order to get their company to appear high-up in a Google search.

I think it was an honest mistake, but lesson learned - do your research.

[josieposy]

Just from my limited experience with DH's clients, you'd be amazed at how many people don't check these things out first.

[zizibet]

Given that part of the job of a PR firm is to help clients avoid dumb shit like this, the should not be in PR. This isn't so obscure a thing that 2 seconds on Google wouldn't have found it.

[ttt]

IT'S THE VERY FIRST LINK THAT COMES UP IN GOOGLE! come on people!!!!!!

[LoveTrains]

Dec 8, 2014 12:32:21 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:24:45 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

I also had no idea that this term had any sort of negative connotation or that there was a song about lynching with the name. That being said, if I was starting a PR firm, I would google the shit out of the name first.

So clearly these ladies were either a) really crappy at their jobs (and clueless) or b) racist bigots.

You would think they'd google it just to see if it was in use by someone else. 

I seriously doubt they are racist bigots though. Just ding dongs.

Oh yeah, I think its most likely a. But again, as a PR firm, one would think that they would google.

but hey, I admit to also being completely ignorant and unaware of this issue until today.  

[ttt]

Dec 8, 2014 12:29:05 GMT -5 kevin arnold said:

It may also want to think about leaving the public relations world behind also.

I think this is taking it a little far.  They took immediate action and apologized, I think that's a pretty good way to handle it, right?  It's not like they dug their heels in defending it.

The problem is that they're clearly incompetent because rule #1 in any business ESPECIALLY PUBLIC RELATIONS is to google your business name before doing anything! 

[FloFTW]

OMG. All you had to do is google ONCE. One time. Google your fucking name ONE TIME.

[pamela]

Dec 8, 2014 12:39:09 GMT -5 ttt said:

IT'S THE VERY FIRST LINK THAT COMES UP IN GOOGLE! come on people!!!!!!

To be fair, you can't compare after the publicity results with what they would have gotten 2 years ago since Google results are influenced by other searches.

[ttt]

Dec 8, 2014 12:43:24 GMT -5 pamela said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:39:09 GMT -5 ttt said:

IT'S THE VERY FIRST LINK THAT COMES UP IN GOOGLE! come on people!!!!!!

To be fair, you can't compare after the publicity results with what they would have gotten 2 years ago since Google results are influenced by other searches.

No no no Yes you can. This is an extremely famous song and I guarantee you that even two years ago, the Wiki entry for "Strange Fruit" would have been the top result. 

This is not some random obscure song that no one has ever heard of. It's one of the most famous political songs ever. 

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2014 12:39:25 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:32:21 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

You would think they'd google it just to see if it was in use by someone else. 

I seriously doubt they are racist bigots though. Just ding dongs.

Oh yeah, I think its most likely a. But again, as a PR firm, one would think that they would google.

but hey, I admit to also being completely ignorant and unaware of this issue until today.  

Racists like to pretend it's only racist because you choose to be insulted. After all, they didn't mean it that way so why should you be upset? The fact that they said WOAH and took it down suggests they aren't racist, imo.

[ttt]

Really, I feel like I just found out tons of people have never heard of Bob Dylan or Michael Jackson before. I'm just like, whaaaaa?

[NitaX]

I just want to highlight that this one of the myriad of reasons folks shouldn't get some fleeting glance of Civil Rights history or Harlem Renaissance history in classes. There are SO many other things that folks don't know but would know if we didn't present watered down history lessons. Like - this is a song that you bring up in a discussion around Ida B. Wells and her investigation of lynchings.

We've got to do better.

[ttt]

Dec 8, 2014 12:46:07 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:39:25 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Oh yeah, I think its most likely a. But again, as a PR firm, one would think that they would google.

but hey, I admit to also being completely ignorant and unaware of this issue until today.  

Racists like to pretend it's only racist because you choose to be insulted. After all, they didn't mean it that way so why should you be upset? The fact that they said WOAH and took it down suggests they aren't racist, imo.

I don't think they're racist. I think they just really suck at their jobs. 

[Deleted]

As a PR firm, they ought to know this. But anyone else can be forgiven for not knowing it I guess. I have heard the term before, but this is the first time I have heard that it was from a song about lynching. I always just connected it to "unusual thing".

[hopecounts]

Dec 8, 2014 12:44:54 GMT -5 ttt said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:43:24 GMT -5 pamela said:

To be fair, you can't compare after the publicity results with what they would have gotten 2 years ago since Google results are influenced by other searches.

No no no Yes you can. This is an extremely famous song and I guarantee you that even two years ago, the Wiki entry for "Strange Fruit" would have been the top result. 

This is not some random obscure song that no one has ever heard of. It's one of the most famous political songs ever. 

this was in a Touched by An Angel episode (totally showing my dorkiness that I know this) in the 90s I doubt it's less known now.

a simple google would've brought it up as a top or at very least 2nd result even 2 years ago.

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2014 12:43:24 GMT -5 pamela said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:39:09 GMT -5 ttt said:

IT'S THE VERY FIRST LINK THAT COMES UP IN GOOGLE! come on people!!!!!!

To be fair, you can't compare after the publicity results with what they would have gotten 2 years ago since Google results are influenced by other searches.

It's the wiki entry and the five thousand and one covers that should tip you off to the fact that googling Strange Fruit would have gotten you those results. Because when I first saw the story, I thought the same thing, huh, wonder what google would have told them. But half the hits on the first few pages have nothing to do with the PR firm. One hit is some shade at Annie Lennox for discussing the song in broad civil rights era terms and not mentioning that the song is specifically about lynching.

So in short, I reject the idea that they wouldn't have gotten hits about the song FIRST UP two years ago. In fact, that's all the would have gotten since when I google, I get the song and I get these idiots.

I don't get breadfruit, starfruit, kiwi, or obscure apple varieties. I get lynchings. Even google images gets you 95% lynching imagery.

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2014 12:47:26 GMT -5 ttt said:

Really, I feel like I just found out tons of people have never heard of Bob Dylan or Michael Jackson before. I'm just like, whaaaaa?

I remember when I was skating and my best friend said "The new Micheal Jackson album, Bad just came out" and I said "who?" and he couldn't believe I had never heard of him. I just...hadn't. Its always weird when you find out something that everyone else already knew. Another time, we were playing Street Fighter, and I suddenly said "Oh! K.O stands for knock out!" and everyone in the room was like "how could you not know that?" lol.

I have always been talented at picking up on subtleties and totally missing the obvious.

[ttt]

Dec 8, 2014 12:46:28 GMT -5 kevin arnold said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:40:05 GMT -5 ttt said:

The problem is that they're clearly incompetent because rule #1 in any business ESPECIALLY PUBLIC RELATIONS is to google your business name before doing anything! 

No argument there.  But if rule #2 is something like how to behave when in crisis mode and not dig your hole deeper when you make a mistake and shit hits the fan, then maybe they get a D- instead of an F?  They just learned a really hard lesson and maybe they can do something good with it.  I'm not defending these ninnies, but I also don't hope that they can never work in their field again.

That's true. They did respond appropriately, so I hope they can take what they've learned and do better next time. 

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2014 12:47:48 GMT -5 NitaX said:

I just want to highlight that this one of the myriad of reasons folks shouldn't get some fleeting glance of Civil Rights history or Harlem Renaissance history in classes. There are SO many other things that folks don't know but would know if we didn't present watered down history lessons. Like - this is a song that you bring up in a discussion around Ida B. Wells and her investigation of lynchings.

We've got to do better.

The odd thing to me is that I know about Ida B Wells and I know about Lynchings. I've just never heard of this song. 

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2014 12:49:04 GMT -5 @eveer said:

As a PR firm, they ought to know this. But anyone else can be forgiven for not knowing it I guess. I have heard the term before, but this is the first time I have heard that it was from a song about lynching. I always just connected it to "unusual thing".

You're British so you get a pass. Although I probably am not the one to be giving passes in this thread lol. 

[jillboston]

Sounds like a good place for the staffer that attacked the Obama girls. I wonder where they came up with the idea and didn't know the meaning. I mean it's not used in any other context ever to my knowledge.

[NitaX]

Dec 8, 2014 12:51:59 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:47:48 GMT -5 NitaX said:

I just want to highlight that this one of the myriad of reasons folks shouldn't get some fleeting glance of Civil Rights history or Harlem Renaissance history in classes. There are SO many other things that folks don't know but would know if we didn't present watered down history lessons. Like - this is a song that you bring up in a discussion around Ida B. Wells and her investigation of lynchings.

We've got to do better.

The odd thing to me is that I know about Ida B Wells and I know about Lynchings. I've just never heard of this song. 

That's why I brought in Wells. Pretty much everyone knows who Ida B. Wells is. But, all you need to do is tie in this song with Ida B. Wells. My humanities teacher did a lesson around opera. It wasn't enough to just talk about opera - we actually listened to opera (Carmen specifically) during class. Then we actually had a field trip to SEE Carmen. Perfect tie in.

You're going to read Wells' work, then discuss it. You just pull up some Billie and discuss the tone of her music, how haunting it is, etc. I just kinda feel like when we have discussions of major things - like Woodstock - you're going to listen to some Hendrix or the Grateful Dead. We have to do a better job of incorporating those things into our classes so that we have a better view of history.

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2014 12:53:21 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Dec 8, 2014 12:49:04 GMT -5 @eveer said:

As a PR firm, they ought to know this. But anyone else can be forgiven for not knowing it I guess. I have heard the term before, but this is the first time I have heard that it was from a song about lynching. I always just connected it to "unusual thing".

You're British so you get a pass. Although I probably am not the one to be giving passes in this thread lol. 

Thats true - everyone in the US has heard of Dave Matthews Band. I had never heard of them until I came here. I always think that is strange, artists that are so huge in one place and "who?" in another.