The PR evidently emaied the journalist about something they weren’t interested in. The journalist replied, “Stop sending me stuff about (expletive) Veganuary. (Expletive) idiots.”
The PR (@SophieRhone if you want to look up the conversation, Jan 2022) posted it, together with her own reply, saying “Sorry but I won’t, nor will any other PR, be spoken to like this by any journalist. I think we can all agree.”
There were many replies, including my favourite, "Just send her a veggie sausage in the post." But the best one was this: “Just wait. As night follows day, that journo will suddenly need vegan-related copy for a tight deadline sometime soon & they will learn what the cold shoulder of PR feels like.”
Because it’s so true.
For most journalists, PRs can be really useful when you are looking for information/ comments/ review products from the clients they represent.
Of course, basic human decency means you should never reply to ANYONE the way that journalist did. Yes, they were probably fed up with getting repeated emails on the same subject, but there is no excuse for this level of rudeness.
On a practical/ professional level, even if you don’t write about the subject the PR is emailing about, you might well do in future.
And what if that PR you have been abusive to moves to a PR firm that DOES deal with your subject matter? What if they tell their colleagues about you and they refuse to deal with you?
So NEVER be rude to a PR – or you could come to regret it.
