Superstorm Sandy is over and the sun is shining.
But controversy still surrounds Governor Chris Christie whose state was hit hard, extending from northern Jersey City to central Seaside Heights to southern Atlantic City. As soon as the wind died down and some of the sea water retreated back into the ocean, he took the controversial stance of surveying the damage side-by-side with President Barack Obama.
Since it was days before the election and the photo-ops featured the incumbent, some conservatives cried foul. They hammered Christie for providing this distinct advantage to Obama. GOP candidate Mitt Romney lost. From a funding standpoint, aligning with the president was a shrewd move since the state needs all the federal money it can get to rebuild.
More recently, Christie again stirred up controversy by appearing on comedy show "SNL." As the Image Marketing Consultants (IMC) blog points out, humor is always a risk. It becomes more so during crisis. Here you can read that post. After all, some in the Garden State still don't have power and many are homeless, taking refuge in shelters.
However, there are no absoute right or wrong answers about leveraging humor in a marketing campaign, explains IMC. With clients ranging from nonprofit Red Cross to private sector All-Star Driver, IMC founder Kate Sirignano recommends weighing the positives with the negatives. After all, insurance company GEICO evolved into a houseword through its humor-saturated television commercials.
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