Imagine if Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace joined a PR firm that was pushing a new brand of mouthwash. Sure, she could personally vouch for the product, but her association would probably make the manufacturer cringe.
The same analogy applies if a pooper-scooper company decided to hire the lovely wife of WaPo media blogger Erik Wemple as spokeswoman.
Well, Nikon Camera now finds itself in just this kind of sticky situation. It turns out that Anthony Weiner is a paid adviser for the PR and marketing firm MWW that is promoting their new “Coolpix” cameras as “great for selfies.”
Indeed, the press release for Nikon’s new “budget friendly Coolpix compact digital cameras” sounded geared for anybody who wants to get his, uh, stuff out quickly. With “built-in Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity, the [Coolpix] makes it simple to seamlessly share images with friends and family. . . even in remote locations.”
Nikon does not sound too enthralled with the connection. An unidentified spokesman told New York Post columnist Richard Johnson, “MWW has been our partner for many years and will remain our US pr agency of record.”
Why would any PR firm want Weiner — one of the biggest laughing stocks in America — on board anyway? The reason might be typical Washington incest and back scratching. MWW founder Michael Kempner is a former DNC finance chair and veteran Hillary Clinton fundraiser.
The Clinton 2016 campaign website says Kempner has raised more than $100,000 for the primary election effort since Hillary announced her White House bid this April.
Clinton’s top aide, of course, is Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin.
When MWW signed Weiner last month they contended it was for his wealth of policy experience only: “As a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Anthony was a leader on many issues ranging from the future of healthcare to national technology policy. His public policy expertise on many issues will be a great asset to our firm.”
But perhaps realizing that Weiner could taint clients’ products, which include Ball Park Franks, MWW added that, “Anthony is not a consumer marketing expert and will not be giving advice on this category of client.”
But he clearly has good use for at least one client’s new product.
Note for anybody with a conflict-of-interest fetish: Johnson has done multiple items on this reporter’s scoops over the years. But why should that possibly matter?
It is not like this is some kind of Richard Johnson suck-up article. But the obsession with “full disclosure” by journalists, instead of evaluating their works on the merits, makes it necessary to include this irrelevant bit of information.