Sometimes it is okay to do nothing

Last week I began receiving forwards of the YouTube video from a Minnesota couple's unusually creative wedding entrance set to Chris Brown's song, "Forever."



At first I just chalked it up to the fact that I had just gotten married myself and that everyone was assuming I was wedding obsessed. But it just kept coming and eventually the video did the rounds of the TV circuit (my favorite to weigh in was, of course, Anderson Cooper), culminating with the couple's appearance (along with the entire bridal party) recreating their entrance on the Today Show.

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The whole thing was so fast and viral that it made me stop and think a second...hmmm, for someone like Chris Brown who was trying to get past the worst PR nightmare of his career, this is actually an incredibly fortunate phenomenon that took focus away from him while associating his music with a fun, uplifting event. So I did a quick search and found (as I suspected) that "Forever" is now back on iTunes' top ten songs list at #9. What a fortunate turn of events for Brown. The singer had issued a public apology recently, only alluding to his assault on then girlfriend, Rihanna, leaving many critics skeptical about his sincerity.

While I certainly don't condone Brown's actions, I can't help thinking that this is an amazing case example of how savvy PR professionals, by not doing anything, might have a better chance of resurrecting a client's image or at least keeping sales going when negative press threatens to derail their careers, but no, it seems the smart folks at Jive Records (Brown's label) have taken legal action to prevent the YouTube video from continuing to circulate. Really?!

Let's think about this for a second, Jive. Totally cute couple headed to wedded bliss, dancing with their friends to your erstwhile popular artist's tune equals a bad thing? Now I really know why the music industry is tanking.