Tuesday, June 9, 2009

APR Flash Card: All Publicity is Free

We all have our little linguistic pet peeves, something people say that grinds our nerves a bit. One for me is "free publicity." It's like saying "ATM machine" or "GOP party." It's redundant because publicity by definition is free.

Category: Terms
Front: Publicity
Back: Disseminating purposefully planned and executed messages through selected media, without payment to further the particular interests of an organization.
ex. Submitting a press release to the local paper announcing an upcoming fundraiser.

Honestly, this particular peeve only gets to me when it's used by people who should know better. For example, if you are, say, writing a book on publicity and speaking at conferences about the topic, you should probably understand the definition of the word. IMO

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