The Good and The Bad From Today’s PR in Scotland

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A veterinary school in Edinburgh has made nearly every single newspaper in Scotland today using the one thing guaranteed to make even the hardest of hearts melt – a tiny puppy.

Almost everyone from The Daily Express to The Scotsman embraced the product of the perfect photocall which involved a gorgeous golden labrador puppy sitting on a set of kitchen scales – weighing in at just one and a half kilograms.

Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and the Roslin Institute are behind the breaking news which have launched a Dogslife survey and aim to monitor 20,000 labrador puppies for life.

Their goal is to improve the health of the dogs as labradors/retrievers are the most common breed in the UK – and the appeal to find 20,000 was launched yesterday.

It appears to have been very successful and they have combined the right elements to really get a great result – you can never really go wrong with an appeal involving puppies but they have hit it right on the mark.

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The BBC are in trouble again – this time during one of the world’s most famous and reputable tennis tournaments.

One of their “heavyweight” Wimbledon commentators has apologised after saying a 16-year-old tennis player needed to lose her puppy fat.

The gibe was directed at Laura Robson – who was playing in her second-round match at Junior Wimbledon – by David Mercer.

He remarked live on air and apologised afterwards but Robson’s agent made a complaint – however, the teenager has simply shrugged it off as “his opinion”.

With all the media attention surrounding the BBC with cuts, wage scrutiny and even the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand saga, maybe everyone should be a bit more cautious as to what they say, and not bring the broadcast super giant into the eye of the media once again.