Valley PR Blog

Light up to good health?

By Len Gutman on April 30th, 2008 In Hype!

I can’t let this go without comment (full disclosure: I did some PR for Morton’s The Steakhouse while freelancing for Barclay Communications last year).

Morton’s The Steakhouse is “celebrating” the one year anniversary of Arizona’s smoke-free initiative today by hosting a “puff on the patio” event at its Esplanade location. Because nothing goes better with a fine porterhouse than tar, nicotine and mouth cancer.

Promoting something so unhealthy under the guise of a celebration of a public health initiative is inexcusable. It’s also bad PR. I didn’t like this idea last year, but I held my toungue and wrote the press release anyway because it wasn’t my client (it was Barclay’s). I’m ashamed I didn’t express my concerns about the promotion last year and hope I have the gonads to speak up if something like this ever comes up with any of my clients. As a member of the Smoke-Free Arizona advisory board I worked hard for more than a year to help get this law passed and I am proud as hell that we got it done. I think exploiting it this way is shameful.

Go ahead and throw out your best “individual rights” argument. But you’re wrong when it comes down to harming others in a public place. Smoke ‘em if you want — just do it at home.

Comments

Point taken. And I also disclose having done PR for Morton’s in the past. On some levels, I agree with your comments. However, Morton’s does have a history of cigar smoking which dates back to before research unveiled the harmful aspects of smoking. They’re celebrating their heritage and a pastime, not handing out cigars to those passing by or requiring anyone to go.

A part of me also likens this to restaurants touting the “All You Can Eat” buffet. “Come to our restaurant, we’ll help you get fatter and put you one step closer to cardiovascular disease.” That’s just as unhealthy as smoking (if not more), yet we see restaurants touting this everyday.

Whether you’re a smoker or not, this is simply just a stupid promotion… If you want to host a “premium cigar event” at $110 a head, do it… But make it a classy event… Don’t do it while mocking a public health initiative… Kind of a stretch, and I don’t mean to offend anyone, but it’s like an abortion clinic hosting an event on Mother’s Day… You just wouldn’t do it…

I realize Morton’s has a history of cigar smoking but this promotion is insane. It’s outright mocking a public health initiative, and that is completely wrong. Many people worked extremely hard to get this law passed. I’m not a smoker, but I’m not against smoking, it’s a personal preference. However, hosting an event like this is inappropriate.

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