I found a humorous story the other day in the Salt Lake Tribune about a Carl's Jr. toilet being shot by a patron. Now here's the kicker. It wasn't a reporter who randomly wanted to do a follow-up story on the toilet. It was a PR job! The brilliant public relations specialist decided to cast a blown up toilet in a positive humorous light, instead of the possibility of patrons being scared of going to Carl's Jr. for fear of being shot up by another citizen. Very good crisis managment.

Here's how you can tell:

• It generates good publicity for Carl's Jr. by making a humorous story numerous people would read and tell their friends about.
  

• They would hand out bottles of Kaboom® Bowl Blaster toilet cleaner to the first 50 funeral attendees, as "it was the toilet's favorite."

• It mentions they have a company Facebook page the reader can visit

• The humor was punny, using the kind of "potty" humor that makes adults chuckle under their breath... brilliantly placed phrases such as "john", gunned down in the line of "doody", the toilet was "such a critical member of our team", and "in very close contact with the public each and every day", "our thoughts go out to the surviving men's room urinal and porcelain sink", and last but not least, the new toilet hasn't made much of a "splash"

It really is a ridiculous article. BUT it caught my interest, and (I'm sure the PR guy was hoping) the public interest.