Sometimes a healthy dose of controversy is a good thing. Take Conservative Cafe as covered by the Chicago Tribune. This unique coffee shop serves up “Radical Right” coffee with pictures of Ronald Reagan on the wall and Ann Coulter’s books stacked by the fireplace. The last sentence of the article sums it all up:

“If I called it ‘Dave’s Cafe,’ no one would talk about it. There’s nothing intriguing about that.”

Exactly right, Dave! Sometimes in PR we want to avoid controversy, but we have to remember that sometimes creating (yes, creating) controversy is a good thing.

A friend of mine used to run political campaigns. He would choose a campaign issue that no one cared about except for 10% of his opponent’s base, and his candidate would take the opposing viewpoint. His candidate would get free press talking about an issue that did not hurt him politically but would fire up his opponent. His opponent would focus on this unimportant campaign issue while his candidate could expand his message. This tactic won many political races for my friend. Remember, keep your eye on the ball.

That’s my Altyrian View.