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P.T. Barnum: “There’s No Such Thing as Bad Publicity”

PR learnings from the “Prince of Humbug.”

Jerry Silfwer
by Jerry Silfwer

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

Reading time: 4 min.

“There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

As PR pro­fes­sion­als, we’ve all heard the expres­sion many times before. But where does it come from? Those infam­ous words were allegedly uttered by P.T. Barnum, a legendary show­man and cir­cus director.

Although it’s dif­fi­cult to veri­fy that it was P.T. Barnum who should be cred­ited, it’s inter­est­ing to learn a bit more about the con­tro­ver­sial legend — and bet­ter under­stand why the say­ing per­sists to this day.

Let’s go:

Table of Contents 

“There’s No Such Thing as Bad Publicity”

Poster for PT Barnum and the Greatest Show on Earth
“The Greatest Show on Earth”

Phineas Taylor Barnum: “There’s No Such Thing as Bad Publicity”

Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum was a 19th-cen­tury American show­man, entre­pren­eur, and politi­cian known for his lar­ger-than-life per­son­al­ity and uncanny abil­ity to cap­ture the pub­lic’s ima­gin­a­tion. Born 1810 in Bethel, Connecticut, Barnum rose to prom­in­ence in the enter­tain­ment world by found­ing the Barnum & Bailey Circus, dubbed “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

Barnum pion­eered the art of press agentry, employ­ing sen­sa­tion­al­ism and pub­li­city stunts to gen­er­ate interest and draw crowds to his shows. His innov­at­ive mar­ket­ing tech­niques and relent­less pur­suit of the extraordin­ary laid the ground­work for many mod­ern pub­lic rela­tions strategies. 

“Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum (1810−1891) was a savvy pub­li­city show­man, one who impacted par­tic­u­lar aspects of pub­lic rela­tions and advert­ising, primar­ily event plan­ning, event pro­mo­tion and true publicity/​media cov­er­age. Ahead of oth­ers in his time, he actu­ally under­stood the import­ance of media cov­er­age (he star­ted New York’s first illus­trated news­pa­per in 1853) and believed ‘there is no such thing as bad pub­li­city,’ a pop­u­lar phrase many times attrib­uted to Barnum him­self.”
— Ashley Foster, APR 1The End of a Publicity Era: How Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ Founder Affected Marketing and Public Relations

Although some crit­ics have labelled Barnum as a pur­vey­or of hoaxes and decep­tion, his endur­ing leg­acy as a vis­ion­ary show­man and mas­ter of spec­tacle con­tin­ues to cap­tiv­ate audi­ences and inspire gen­er­a­tions of enter­tain­ers and entrepreneurs.

Learn more: P.T. Barnum: “There’s No Such Thing as Bad Publicity”

Is Bad Publicity Actually … Good?

Not all pub­li­city is good pub­li­city — of course.

But it’s com­plic­ated, too. Someone’s bad pub­li­city is often good for someone else, and vice versa. Bad pub­li­city for your com­pet­it­or could mean less busi­ness for them and more for you.

There are also con­ver­sion the­ory effects. Suppose a con­tro­ver­sial music artist gets bad pub­li­city for pro­voc­at­ive stage beha­viours. In that case, it might res­ult in angered par­ents, res­ult­ing in teen­agers queueing for hours to see the show.

Then, there’s the amp­li­fic­a­tion hypo­thes­is:

The harder you attack someone verbally, the more you con­vince them of their belief, not yours. This, of course, goes for attacks via pub­li­city as well.

However, P.T. Barnum likely referred to anoth­er psy­cho­lo­gic­al aspect of bad pub­li­city (which isn’t often dis­cussed in pub­lic rela­tions or else­where). Sometimes, from a busi­ness per­spect­ive, it’s bet­ter to be infam­ous than entirely unknown.

“People want to be loved; fail­ing that admired; fail­ing that feared; fail­ing that hated and des­pised. They want to evoke some sort of sen­ti­ment. The soul shud­ders before obli­vi­on and seeks con­nec­tion at any price.”
— Hjalmar Söderberg (1869−1941), Swedish author

If a cir­cus attracts bad pub­li­city, plenty of people will still be curi­ous to learn what all the fuss is about. If they’re going to dis­like some­thing, why not get some “scan­dal­ous” first-hand gos­sip them­selves first? For the cir­cus, it beats being unknown and get­ting zero tick­ets sold.

Learnings from the “Prince of Humbugs”

P.T. Barnum, often hailed as the “Prince of Humbugs,” played a crit­ic­al role in devel­op­ing the mod­ern cir­cus. However, his life and career exten­ded bey­ond the cir­cus tent and provided numer­ous les­sons per­tin­ent to the busi­ness landscape. 

The fol­low­ing are some of the most sig­ni­fic­ant learn­ings from Barnum, viewed through the lens of con­tem­por­ary man­age­ment and lead­er­ship practices:

  • Mastering pub­lic rela­tions. Barnum had a knack for cre­at­ing buzz. He reg­u­larly used innov­at­ive and cre­at­ive advert­ising tech­niques to cap­ture the public’s atten­tion. This was done by embra­cing con­tro­versy, using storytelling to his advant­age, and some­times, push­ing eth­ic­al bound­ar­ies. Today’s lead­ers can draw from Barnum’s play­book, albeit eth­ic­ally, by using power­ful nar­rat­ives and effect­ive pub­lic rela­tions strategies to garner atten­tion and influ­ence their stake­hold­ers.
  • Innovation and adapt­ab­il­ity. Throughout his career, Barnum fre­quently demon­strated the abil­ity to adapt and innov­ate. Whether trans­ition­ing from a museum pro­pri­et­or to a cir­cus man­ager or bring­ing in nov­el acts to draw crowds, Barnum con­sist­ently refined him­self and his busi­ness to suit chan­ging cir­cum­stances and audi­ence tastes. Modern busi­nesses must sim­il­arly pri­or­it­ise innov­a­tion and adapt­ab­il­ity to thrive in a rap­idly chan­ging glob­al marketplace.
  • Customer cent­ri­city. Barnum deeply under­stood his audi­ence and tailored his shows to give them an unfor­get­table exper­i­ence. He believed in the value of enter­tain­ment and deliv­er­ing bey­ond cus­tom­ers’ expect­a­tions. Today, busi­nesses increas­ingly recog­nise the import­ance of being cus­tom­er-cent­ric and ensur­ing high cus­tom­er satisfaction.
  • Partnerships and col­lab­or­a­tion. Barnum’s part­ner­ship with James Bailey was instru­ment­al in cre­at­ing one of the most suc­cess­ful cir­cuses in his­tory — the Barnum and Bailey Circus. This col­lab­or­a­tion serves as a les­son in the power of stra­tegic part­ner­ships to expand one’s reach, cap­ab­il­it­ies, and success.
  • The power of a brand. Barnum built a sol­id per­son­al brand that became syn­onym­ous with spec­tacle and excite­ment. His repu­ta­tion often pre­ceded him, draw­ing in crowds based on his name alone. In today’s digit­al age, the import­ance of per­son­al and cor­por­ate brand­ing is para­mount, and busi­nesses can learn from Barnum’s abil­ity to build and lever­age his brand.
  • Risk man­age­ment. Despite his pen­chant for spec­tacle, Barnum was a shrewd busi­ness­man who under­stood the import­ance of man­aging risk. Following a fire that des­troyed his museum, Barnum promptly rebuilt, illus­trat­ing his resi­li­ence and for­ward-think­ing nature. The mod­ern busi­ness envir­on­ment, char­ac­ter­ised by volat­il­ity and uncer­tainty, demands sim­il­ar risk man­age­ment skills from leaders.
  • Resilience and per­sever­ance. Barnum faced numer­ous per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al set­backs, includ­ing busi­ness fail­ures and pub­lic scan­dals. Despite these chal­lenges, he per­sisted and often returned stronger, embody­ing the spir­it of resi­li­ence and per­sever­ance, which remain cru­cial for any lead­er in today’s com­plex busi­ness landscape.

Though drawn from a markedly dif­fer­ent era and industry, these learn­ings from P.T. Barnum remain sur­pris­ingly applic­able to mod­ern businesses.

No such thing as bad pub­li­city? Well, it’s com­plic­ated. But as for gen­er­at­ing “bad pub­li­city” on pur­pose, I’d sug­gest leav­ing any such advanced (and highly volat­ile!) PR strategies to professionals.

Please sup­port my blog by shar­ing it with oth­er PR- and com­mu­nic­a­tion pro­fes­sion­als. For ques­tions or PR sup­port, con­tact me via jerry@​spinfactory.​com.

PR Resource: The Conversion Theory

The Conversion Theory: The Misrepresented Minority

The dis­pro­por­tion­al power of minor­it­ies is known as the con­ver­sion the­ory.

How does it work?

The social cost of hold­ing a dif­fer­ent view than the major­ity is high. This increased cost explains why minor­it­ies often hold their opin­ions more firmly. It takes determ­in­a­tion to go against the norm. 2Moscovici, S. (1980). Toward a the­ory of con­ver­sion beha­viour. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 209 – 239. New York: Academic Press.

In con­trast, many major­ity mem­bers don’t hold their opin­ions so firmly. They might belong to the major­ity for no oth­er reas­on than that every­one else seems to be. 3Chryssochoou, X. and Volpato, C. (2004). Social Influence and the Power of Minorities: An Analysis of the Communist Manifesto, Social Justice Research, 17, 4, 357 – 388.

“In groups, the minor­ity can have a dis­pro­por­tion­ate effect, con­vert­ing many ‘major­ity’ mem­bers to their own cause. This is because many major­ity group mem­bers are not strong believ­ers in its cause. They may be simply going along because it seems easi­er or that there is no real altern­at­ive. They may also have become dis­il­lu­sioned with the group pur­pose, pro­cess, or lead­er­ship and are seek­ing a viable altern­at­ive.”
Source: chan​ging​minds​.org

According to con­ver­sion the­ory, while major­it­ies often claim norm­at­ive social influ­ence, minor­it­ies strive for eth­ic­al high ground. 

Given the power of norm­at­ive social influ­ence, minor­it­ies must stick togeth­er in tight-knit groups that can verb­al­ise the same mes­sage repeatedly.

Read also: Conversion Theory: The Disproportionate Influence of Minorities

PR Resource: The Amplification Hypothesis

The Amplification Hypothesis

It’s com­mon to find that coun­ter­ar­gu­ments strengthen exist­ing beliefs instead of weak­en­ing them. 

  • The harder you attack someone verbally, the more you con­vince them of their belief, not yours.

The phe­nomen­on is known as the amp­li­fic­a­tion hypo­thes­is, where dis­play­ing cer­tainty about an atti­tude when talk­ing with anoth­er per­son increases and hardens that attitude.

“Across exper­i­ments, it is demon­strated that increas­ing atti­tude cer­tainty strengthens atti­tudes (e.g., increases their res­ist­ance to per­sua­sion) when atti­tudes are uni­valent but weak­ens atti­tudes (e.g., decreases their res­ist­ance to per­sua­sion) when atti­tudes are ambi­val­ent. These res­ults are con­sist­ent with the amp­li­fic­a­tion hypo­thes­is.“
Source: A new look at the con­sequences of atti­tude cer­tainty: The amp­li­fic­a­tion hypo­thes­is 4Clarkson, J. J., Tormala, Z. L., & Rucker, D. D. (2008). A new look at the con­sequences of atti­tude cer­tainty: The amp­li­fic­a­tion hypo­thes­is. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, … Continue read­ing

How does the amp­li­fic­a­tion hypo­thes­is work? 

In a threat­en­ing situ­ation or emer­gency, we resort to the prim­al (fast­est) part of the brain and sur­viv­al instincts (fight, flight and freeze). 5Surviving the Storm: Understanding the Nature of Attacks held at Animal Care Expo, 2011 in Orlando, FL.

  • Dichotomous think­ing. This think­ing style is at the heart of rad­ic­al move­ments and fun­da­ment­al­ism. Even people who exer­cise abstract think­ing, logic, reas­on, and the abil­ity to recog­nize com­plex issues can resort to this think­ing style when threatened. 6See also con­ver­sion the­ory.
  • Egocentric think­ing. People who demon­strate non-ego­centric think­ing in many areas can also use this think­ing style under stress. When a tar­get is labelled an enemy, cog­nit­ive steps jus­ti­fy viol­ent beha­viour and pre­vent altru­ism and empathy. 7Beck (1999): Homogenization, Dehumanization and Demonization.
  • Distorted think­ing. We tend to ignore details in our envir­on­ments that do not sup­port our think­ing and beliefs. 8See also cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance.

Establishing com­mon ground and exhib­it­ing empathy demon­strates a genu­ine under­stand­ing of their per­spect­ive, fos­ter­ing trust and open­ness to your ideas. Conversely, if your object­ive is to deflect per­suas­ive attempts, a stra­tegic mis­match of atti­tudes can serve as a power­ful countermeasure.

Persuade

To per­suade, align your atti­tude with the tar­get. Otherwise, you will only act to cre­ate resistance.

Provoke

To put off a per­suader, mis­match their atti­tudes. When they are logic­al, be emo­tion­al, and vice versa. 

Read also: The Amplification Hypothesis: How To Counter Extreme Positions

ANNOTATIONS
ANNOTATIONS
1 The End of a Publicity Era: How Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’ Founder Affected Marketing and Public Relations
2 Moscovici, S. (1980). Toward a the­ory of con­ver­sion beha­viour. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 209 – 239. New York: Academic Press.
3 Chryssochoou, X. and Volpato, C. (2004). Social Influence and the Power of Minorities: An Analysis of the Communist Manifesto, Social Justice Research, 17, 4, 357 – 388.
4 Clarkson, J. J., Tormala, Z. L., & Rucker, D. D. (2008). A new look at the con­sequences of atti­tude cer­tainty: The amp­li­fic­a­tion hypo­thes­is. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(4), 810 – 825. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​3​7​/​a​0​0​1​3​192
5 Surviving the Storm: Understanding the Nature of Attacks held at Animal Care Expo, 2011 in Orlando, FL.
6 See also con­ver­sion the­ory.
7 Beck (1999): Homogenization, Dehumanization and Demonization.
8 See also cog­nit­ive dis­son­ance.
Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at KIX Index and Spin Factory. Before that, he worked at Kaufmann, Whispr Group, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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