Every so often the media will take an opportunity to make our lives that bit less fun by telling us that something we love to do/eat/breathe has an increased chance of killing us.  There have been many victims of this media assault on life’s little luxuries and the latest one is red meat, primarily the beloved British traditions of bacon and sausages.  You could almost hear the collective moan across the country as newspapers and news channels proclaimed ‘sausages and bacon increase cancer by 18%’, it was undoubtedly a dark day for many of us.

However, despite this news from the World Health Organisation, we would be fascinated to see the sales figures for processed meat post the story breaking.  Why?  Well, we don’t know about you but all this talk of bacon sandwiches and bangers and mash made us hungry and we have to confess that several of us may have indulged in these killer treats and weren’t that sorry about it.   The news, although negative, still served to remind us of just how delicious these treats are and we are confident that there were other sausage stashers in the aisles of Sainsbury’s last week.

This is a great example of how as PR’s although we sell-in stories to the media with an idea of how we want consumers to react to it – ie not buy red meat – we cannot control consumer behaviour and yet again proves the theory that no publicity is bad publicity.

Who will the press target next (a heads up, it seems to be diet soft drinks), but let’s face it no one is safe, but one thing is certain it doesn’t necessarily mean a negative impact on sales.