This week we saw the deep division that tears at the heart of the PR and Marketing Communications business. Two industry groups made simultaneous announcements that could not be more at odds. One group advocated TOTAL transparency... while the other then raced to point out "falsies."

This week the American Association of Nude Recreation (AANR) launched a campaign to encourage a new generation to visit nude and clothing-optional resorts. According to the association's PR coordinator Carolyn Hawkins "a lot of our membership is getting older. The time is right to target the Gen X demographic and introduce younger people in to see what the organization was all about."

Despite the tremendous growth within the past decade for nude recreation - today a $400 million niche within the US travel industry - Marie Kephart, senior account manager at AANR's agency Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell PR, said, "But we have to look to the future."

Outreach efforts began with resort-owner seminars. Topics ranged from amenities such as high-speed Internet connections to premium coffees, to how established Gen X nudists could serve as brand ambassadors. Phase two of the effort includes more aggressive outreach in the social media space. AANR already has an active MySpace page and is set to launch a Gen X blog that will include a series of podcasts. (Hello Shel!)

But Kephart's greatest challenge is NOT coming from any religious-right group. It's coming from Center for Media and Democracy. CMD is a non-profit, public interest organization whose mission is to strengthen participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda.

According to CMD, "2006 was a year full of deception, manipulation, prevarication, and bald faced lies. Every day, we are up to our ankles (and sometimes higher) in the corporate spin and government propaganda that PR firms keep churning out. At the end of each year, we have the 'Falsies Awards' to recognize the people and players responsible for polluting our information environment. This year, you get to vote on the worst spinners and propagandists of 2006."

COMMENTARY

With our industry being this polarized, so wonder we are paralyzed with regard to change and reform.