More Worthless Press Releases

To go along with those nominations for worst press releases of the year, here's a roundup of stinkers in the biomedical field. And they do reek. I got some of these in my in-box as well, and I probably got even more of them than I remember. Sad to say, PR material (or at least the automated list variety) gets a very brief look from me. If there's a personal note to it, that shows that some thought went into the distribution, odds go up. But even then, I get people pitching me on all-natural coconut cure water and the like, apparently laboring under the idea that it's just the think that the readership here would like to hear about. (Those sometimes get "You don't seem to have every actually looked at the site. . ." replies from me).

As for the automated stuff, once in a while I'll actually click through to the release itself, but most of the time, I can tell from the subject line that it's not something that I need to be spending any effort on. My e-mail address has crept on to more and more lists with time, and it's amusing, in a grim way, to see the releasebots sending me automated PR notes on, say, the morning of Thanksgiving and other big news days like that (and no, that didn't appear to be an outlet outside the US in that case - I looked it over at the time, wondering who could be silly enough be sending it). I'll keep an eye out on Christmas and New Year's for the latest news.

Source: In the Pipeline - December 18, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Press Coverage Source Type: blogs