OK, here’s the picture, literally: This is the picture from a billboard ad from the Target Corporation.

Some people, namely Flickr user Bennett4Senate, suggested that this image is suggestive. I won’t touch that issue with a 10-foot pole in this blog post. I direct any who wish to dwell on this to Justice Stewart Potter and his definition of obscenity. This post is about corporate public relations and understanding bloggers.

In that context, let’s say that this image is a tiny, tiny ember in a campfire…

One of those people who believes this image is suggestive is also a blogger, Amy Jussel. Amy asked the Target PR department for “an explanation” regarding the billboard. Target’s response?

Good Morning Amy,

Thank you for contacting Target; unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with non-traditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.

Once again thank you for your interest, and have a nice day.

For the purposes of this post, let’s just call this statement “highly combustible material,” kind of like a tank full of gas vapors.

Remember our tiny little ember, the concern over the content of the ad? Well, now Target has thrown its highly combustible material all over our gently burning little ember with this PR policy (or was it an ad hoc decision?).

To many corporate PR types, and unfortunately some of their PR agencies, the blogosphere is seen as some kind of enclosed place, sprinkled with a few nutjobs and corporate saboteurs, where stuff doesn’t get out much.

If this were an actual, real-world highly combustible material, here are the steps Target would follow:

Removal of explosive or combustible gas or vapors from tanks and other enclosed spaces: “Highly combustible or explosive materials must be placed carefully into a rotary kiln or other type of combustible disposal equipment because of the likelihood of explosion or blow back when the material reaches the heat.” (Courtesy of http://www.freepatentsonline.com)

This scenario is not as easy as disposing of physical highly combustible material. This a much less predictable scenario involving people, advocates with agendas, emotions, subjectivity, their children, and a large corporation – not to mention the other fuels in the blogosphere, like gaining traffic, stimulating conversation and acquiring links.

To the Target PR agencies and staff: A train-load full of gas vapor looks tame in comparison to the volatile mix that you are faced with in this scenario. By responding to concern about the billboard with that statement, the issue shifted from a tiny ember (concern over the image) to a burning torch (a blogger scorned). Result: explosion and blow back, as bloggers rallied around a community member, perhaps even seeing a suggestive picture when there is none.

After spending a couple of decades in communications and dealing with political issues, here are some suggestions for when you’re faced with questions from bloggers in the future:

1) Bloggers can also be customers, parents, investors… Don’t dismiss them as not your “core guest” or “target market.” At the very least, answer the question. You might not give the answer they want, but at least you’ll have answered.

2) Before answering the question, get a lay of the land: Examine whether people are talking about this issue online. Ask your own call center and customer service departments if they have received calls on the issue. Consult with them on how they would handle this type of call. While you might view this as one quirky inquiry, it may be a smoldering campfire in the middle of the dry season.

3) Take the medium of blogging seriously. Every PR person worth his or her salt has had to deal with an issue advocate in the industry. Every industry has them, whether it’s some writer in mainstream media who has it out for you or a blogger with a clear agenda. Stonewalling is no way to make that individual go away.

4) The blogosphere gives advantage to first movers. It can ignite on a rumor and sifts out the truth over time. Jeremy Pepper’s beautiful post is an essential read on blogosphere truth vs. real truth. It’s just like in politics: 99.5 percent of the time, the advantage is to the accuser. For the same reason negative campaigning is effective, a single blogger that can get two twigs to burn can potentially to build a fire. If the premise that started those twigs to burn was wrong, as a company, you need to make sure you pour plenty of water on it early. This tactic holds even more weight when an issue is not a rumor or based on the subjective view of a prolific few, but based on fact.

5) Separate the influencer from the influencing idea. Sure, you might have a blogger that is after you like white on rice. However, be on the look out for that one issue on which they may be right. Kryptonite lock is the classic example. When a blogger pointed out that the locks could be picked with a Bic pen, the company faced a serious issue. It reacted quickly and communicated to its core audiences, explaining the steps the company would take to make things right.

One last point: I have said on this blog several times how social media is making politics-style communication skills necessary at the highest levels of corporate communications and PR departments.

This issue – the tiny ember, you’ll remember – was about a Target billboard ad that contained a picture of woman (in winter attire, wearing a scarf, hat, mittens and boots) on a Target logo (a bull’s-eye). Those who pointed the ad out discussed how women are depicted in society, characterized by the blogger who inquired to Target about “the universal issue is sexualized ad slop, and how we need to just freakin’ STOP it.” It wasn’t about some defective product, store cleanliness or a warranty issue. At its roots, this was a political issue. Target then misjudged the grassroots potential of the issue itself and the medium through which it is communicated.

To social media types, the lesson here for the blogosphere might be this: The perception that can come from situations that started with that first tiny, tiny ember is that the blogosphere can, at times, look like a young, self-important child in a big family, throwing a tantrum when it doesn’t get noticed.