The PR fued between NBA team owners & players

Today, Yahoo posted an interesting article featuring an interview with Carmelo Anthony, the newly acquired superstar and franchise player with the New York Knicks. In his interview over the weekend, Anthony said, “I don’t think we’re getting our message out there, the owners are definitely doing a great job getting their message out. They have David Stern and the owners, we only have Derek Fisher(notes).” As a public relations person, I would infer that his comments are suggesting that the public opinion over the NBAs lockout is starting to brew out of control and sway in the favor of owners. For those of you who watch ESPN flagship show, Sportscenter, the NBA's lockout has become a daily topic of conversation and so has the public's perception of the lockout. Over the past few weeks, meetings between the two sides have gone virtually nowhere and now speculation that the NBA 2011-2012 season maybe in jeopardy is becoming possible realities. Carmelo Anthony like many other players of the week have expressed their frustration over how few players have publically come out and attempted to make a case for the players. With that said, Carmelo has seemly addressed the problem and a solution- so why doesn’t he do anything about you ask?  After all, Carmelo is one of the league’s top players and he plays in NYC- one of the NBA’s biggest basketball markets. The answer is he like many others including Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durrant, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, and many others need to stop going on twitter rants and instead make a cameo appearance to voice their opinions on the lockout for the world to hear. That would a good PR decision from the player’s point of view in my opinion. We’ll just have to wait and see how this situation unfolds.

Click here to learn more: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_nba_labor_stars_union_101711

Whats the big deal with Urban Outfitters new 'Navajo' collection??

Thankfully I have girlfriend who is not only smart & gorgeous, but, also current on everything fashion related- something that I am not and will never be. With that said over the last week, there was a lot of media coverage over Urban Outfitters new fall collection of clothing/ accessories inspired by the Navajo Indians, because of a outcry to remove the Navajo label from the products entirely. The Navajo Nation Government or NNG was outraged over the new line presented by the company over their misrepresentation of the tribes 'scared' name and trademark violations. Urban Outfitters countered the claim, stating that that they, along with many other fashion designers have “ultizied the ‘Navajo’ name in previous lines with no backlash from the Native American community and do not understand why this case has accumulated so much backlash”. Personally I do not see any harm or wrong doings here by Urban Outfitters, except I do not hail from a historic tribe that has had to endure many hardships over the last few hundred years- so my opinion does not carry a lot of creditability. Obviously though, I can understand the outrage/POV but I think that in this case there is not much harm being done here by Urban. Urban, like many other fashion designers have utilized Native American designs/culture as inspiration for lines for years, which have always been seen as. However, now because the name, ‘Navajo’ appears on a few accessories and underwear the NNG is ready to declare war on the company. Doesn’t make much sense. In addition, Urban Outfitters carries more than 20 under the ‘Navajo’ label on their website, but the NNG is only disputing the rights to the Navajo Hipster Panty," and Navajo Print Fabric Wrapped Flask- which both feature geometric designs common in Navajo arts and crafts. However this ends, what we should take out of this is company’s and designers should be sensitive to cultural wishes/demands because at the end of the day nobody should feel like they are being disrespected in any way, shape, or form. If you want to read more about this, click here: http://www.news9.com/story/15708170/navajo-calls-out-urban-outfitters-for-its-products