We were getting ready to start a campaign, public relations style, on Columbus, Ohio, rats. The beasts were getting too domesticated for the city health commissioner.
"More rats than people around here," he complained. "They're moving into our BEST neighborhoods."
What was worse from his viewpoint, and the viewpoint of the mayor, people were complaining. And when people complain about rats, they always attach possession of the animals to municipal officials. "Your rats," they say. "Your damn rats! They're all over my place. Come out here and get rid of your damn rats." or words to the same effect.
The Mayor and the Health Commissioner wanted something done about the rats. They also wanted something done about the people.
It was a great opportunity for public relations. All you had to do was convince the people that they really owned their own rats.
"As long as you freedom and give'em shelter, they're yours," was the theme.
Somebody impartial was needed to sponsor this idea, some independent organization. Who? The Junior Chamber of Commerce! Who else?
The Jaycees formed a speaker’s bureau on rats. They were quoted in the newspapers. They talked on radio. They appeared before large civic groups and small neighborhood groups.
"Get rid of the rats," the Jaycees told people. "They're your rats. Quit feeding them those big garbage banquets. Put lids on the cans. Close up the rat harbors. Plug up the holes. Turn'em out in the cold."
The Jaycees worked hard.
The Health Department organized a special school on rat riddance. A North Side block was rat proofed as an example. Newspapers ran pictures of the procedure. "Do it yourself," became part of the theme.
How about a pamphlet on rat riddance? Good. But where can you get one cheap?
Plates were available for one pamphlet, but printing would cost $500. Who had $500? Not the Health Department, never the Jaycees. That was out.
The U.S. Department of Interior, we learned, had two million fine rat pamphlets. We could get some only by promising house to house distribution. We promised house to house distribution under a Jaycee letterhead. The Department of Interior was impressed, and shipped 125,000 pamphlets.
The pamphlets had a space on the cover for a local imprint. The Health officer bought a half a dozen rubber stamps and ink pads. Pamphlets, stamps, and pads were hustled to City Jail, Women's Division. Trusties, ex streetwalkers etc. stamped the pamphlets.
Next, the pamphlets went to the Division of Rubbish Collection. Pamphlets were stapled to door knob cards which were being used for advance announcement of visits by rubbish collectors. House to house distribution was thereby obtained. The Jaycees were off the hook.
Still, some people were not impressed. Even stories of babies being nibbled by the rodents had not disturbed them.
And then the sports editor, Columbus Dispatch, came up with a front page story about dogs dying from a strange disease. It was a tremendous opportunity. The Health Department called a meeting of veterinarians. What was killing the dogs? Leptospirosis, sometimes known as Stuttgart's disease, was the most likely cause. Dogs get it from rats, even from sniffing the trails of rats. Horrors! The rat campaign stayed on page one.
This PR campaign to acquaint the public with rats may not have been my toughest PR problem, but it was unique. A lot of people learned something about rats, and the rats learned something about people.
A few rats, reportedly, are still in the area. Some people apparently like rats. They didn't do anything about getting rid of them. You can hardly blame the rats for preferring such people.
The clatter of hammers sounded warning that something more than homes was being built adjacent to the Memphis Works of International Harvester Company.
A public relations problem was growing with the new houses. Plant officials knew it. Their powerhouse burned coal, and the new homes area was well within the range of smoke, soot, and cinders from the big smokestacks.
What should company officials do? Try to halt the construction? They couldn't. Should they caution prospective home buyers against buying the homes? Obviously, they could not, without alienating the contractors and mortgage loan people, and developing suspicion among the neighbors to be.
Plant officials reasoned there was nothing they could do but wait for the complaints that were sure to come once the homes were occupied. They found little satisfaction in the knowledge that one reason for selecting their plant site was the absence of residential areas in the vicinity. It was surrounded by open fields, well away.
Commercial Appeal as copy boy, clerk, advertising copywriter, salesman, and part time newsman, staff correspondent in United Press Memphis bureau, Bureau manager UP Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., and night editor of UP's southern news circuit, served three years with U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, principally as a writer in public relations, since 1947, public relations manager at Memphis Works, International Harvester Co. from homes. It was felt that there would be no "smoke and the community" problem.
But then the homes came, some of them within 100 yards of the plant. And they were located to the north of the plant, in direct line with the prevailing winds from the south. So the complaints came, as expected.
Fortunately, company officials heard the first murmurs of un happiness. They recognized that unfavorable newspaper stories and community animosity would seriously affect the plant's community relations program.
So the company went to the home owners before they could go to the newspapers and city officials. There was a personal touch in the first phase of handling the public relations headache which had been thrust upon the company.
Company representatives began ringing doorbells in the new residential section. Every homeowner was contacted, although some homes had to be visited several times.
The survey was being made to get the facts. Housewives were asked for specific examples of smoke and soot. They were queried as to what hours of the day the downfall from the powerhouse was heaviest.
Company representatives were shown soiled curtains and soot blackened bathtubs. They were shown laundry on the line which would have to be re laundered. They met housewives who washed curtains weekly, who vacuumed two or three times daily, and whose children were bathed three times daily. They were in homes in which all windows were closed while afternoon temperatures reached 100 degrees.
