What do you do when you’ve been hammered by the almighty Reader’s Digest?
That’s what happened to the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin when an article in the December issue placed the Mustard Museum on its list of “5 Museums Not to Plan Christmas Around.”
“Want a fun vacation?” the article asked. “Maybe you should skip these #145;educational’ destinations.”
Barry Levenson, curator and CMO (Chief Mustard Officer), says that as far as he knows, no one from Reader’s Digest visited his museum or any of the other places on their hit list, including the Macaulay Museum of Dental History or the National Museum of Funeral History.
“It was a cheap shot because the Mustard Museum might sound dull to the uninformed,” Barry said. “But it is also the home of America’s Mustard College, POUPON U, and there’s nothing boring about POUPON U.”
So what did he do?
“We took ’em on! We sent a press release making fun of Reader’s Digest and that got us some terrific publicity, including a story on a Madison TV station and other media websites. We sent out an email newsletter to our base of 15,000 mustard lovers. Many of our friends are bombarding Reader’s Digest with scathing letters. Some have cancelled their subscriptions.”
If you’ve been slammed, don’t hide from it, Barry says.
“We’ve heard from hundreds of people who can’t believe what Reader’s Digest wrote about us,” he said. “We could have ignored the piece but it has worked to our advantage, rousing the troops in support of the Mustard Museum.”
As for those who are willing to take Reader’s Digest at face value, Barry says: POUPON THEM!
What would you do if you found out that someone was spreading rumors, innuendos or bad news about you either on the Internet, or in other media outlets? Crisis counselor Judy Hoffman says you might have to act fast, and your first instinct might turn into a decision that gets you into even bigger trouble. Learn all your options, including the things you can start doing now to save yourself misery if anything like this ever happens. Read about you’ll learn from the CD or transcript “What to Do When Someone Damages Your Good Name.“
