Good vs. Evil and the Publicity Stunt

I was driving to school this morning and listening to CBC Radio One, which is my usual routine.  This morning Marcie Markusa was interviewing a man who is going to spend 36 hours on the street starting today to raise awareness about homelessness and the work of the Lighthouse Mission.

Near the end of the interview, she asked the man if he was worried his Outdoor Challenge would be perceived as a publicity stunt. The context was clear: publicity stunts are bad.

Publicity Stunt. What does that even mean? The definition of a publicity stunt, according to Wikipedia is "a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause."  How is that bad exactly?  It's a tool that PR people use all the time, and journalists cover them all the time.  The guy from Lighthouse Mission wouldn't have been on CBC talking about this event if it wasn't an interesting story from the perspective of the media. 

Whenever you hold an event of any kind, and the purpose is getting exposure, you need to add an element of uniqueness to fulfill your goals.  It's like icing on a cake, that extra something special that sets you apart.  If you don't have that factor, you're just another one of ten million people raising money for Haiti. For example.

Why are publicity stunts perceived as bad?  I'm not sure what Markusa was really going for.  After all, in the next five minutes after the interview, she promotes two other special events, including one that she is involved in.  As a local media celebrity, her presence at an event ensures that the CBC, at the very least, is going to cover it.  Throw in the fact that she is going to be performing a dance with four differently-abled girls and you've got something most news media will cover, ie: a publicity stunt.

Perhaps it's the word "stunt" that is the problem, giving the whole concept an iffy vibe.  Stunts are dangerous, so a true publicity stunt perhaps includes some aspect of unethical behavior or poor taste.   Maybe it's people doing something just for the sake of getting attention for themselves, not for a cause or an organization.  Something an ethical PR person would never be involved in.

I find it interesting when certain words or phrases get a negative connotation attached to them, for no apparent reason. When you dig a bit deeper, you often find that the popular perception isn't always the correct one.