Publicity Proverb

[Fred Shapiro]

I previously posted a response about "the only bad publicity is no
publicity" and similar phrases.  Subsequently, I have come across the
following in Brewer's Quotations:

"ALL PUBLICITY IS GOOD PUBLICITY.

An almost proverbial saying, which I first heard in the 1960s but which is
probably as old as the public relations industry.  Alternative forms
include: 'There's no such thing as bad publicity', 'There's no such thing
as over-exposure -- only bad exposure', 'Don't read it -- measure it' and
'I don't care what the papers say about me as long as they spell my name
right'.  The latter saying has been attributed to the American Tammany
leader 'Big Tim' Sullivan.

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs includes it in the form 'Any
publicity is good publicity' but finds no example before 1974.  However,
in Dominic Behan's _My Brother Brendan_ (1965), the Irish playwright is
quoted as saying: 'There is no such thing as bad publicty except your own
obituary.'  And James Agee in _Ego_ 7 (for 19 February 1944) quotes Arnold
Bennett, 'All praise is good', and adds: 'I suppose the same could be said
about publicity.'"

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------