Wall Street Journal reporters Rebecca Buckman and Kevin J. Delaney bring us a timely item today entitled, "As Tech Heats Up, Sages Dust Off Bubble Indicators." The headline is further embellished with these appropriate subheads: Goofy-Names Index Rises, Perks Gauge Glows Red; A 5th-Grader as Founder.

It's all about the predictive relationship between an increase of goofy business plans, odd corporate names, bad ideas, and inxperienced managers to the growing risk of another tech implosion. Of special interest to me was a presumed indicator mentioned way down in the second to last paragraph. It is in reference to the goings on at a Web conference held last month in San Francisco:

At one point in the conference, women in lab coats began working the crowd, handing out test tubes filled with "power shots" of vodka and cranberry juice. They were touting Powerlabs, an online "community" from a start-up called Powerset Inc. that is creating a new Web-search engine. Powerset says the women worked for a public-relations firm.

For the record, I think that sort of thing is degrading to professional public relations people and to the profession in general. And by the way, couldn't they find any lab coats for the men at the agency? Why just women in lab coats serving drinks?

In the name of fair and full-disclosure, upon drilling down into this story and taking a gander at the Powerset, Inc. website, I learned that I'm familiar with the PR firm and some could interpret this from me as little more than sour grapes on my part. So be it. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

But my point is this: When PR people resort to dress-up, play-acting, waitressing and such it suggests one of two possibilities to me: the client doesn't have a strong message or the PR people are having a hard time articulating it. I can't say either one of these conditions influenced this PR tactic. But I do know for sure that most people don't spend all that time and money going to college so they can enter the public relations profession only to be asked to wear a lab coat and serve drinks at a conference. Yes, I get the "power shot" connection. I get the test-tube and lab coat tie in. I could mount a strong argument for why the whole charade makes sense on paper. But in practice? Really? Maybe The Wall Street Journal got the story wrong and there were agency men in lab coats, too? But if the Journal got that part right, and it was only agency women asked to do this, I have an even deeper concern over the whole thing.

I'm intimately familiar with how these ideas get hatched at PR firms. I just wish that managers would more often take a step back and ask themselves if the idea is the best or most appropriate way to go, or that account executives would tell their managers to go back to the drawing board to find a more professional approach. Otherwise, where does it end? What will PR people be willing to dress up in next? What role will they be asked to act next. Is there a limit and, if so, where do you draw the line?

Just my two cents.

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