Cheeky monkey photographs nicely illustrate the silly season
How many of our readers have seen these photos of the baboons at Knowsley Safari Park near Liverpool? The news value of these cheeky monkeys (we know they are not monkeys really!) has gone viral since it was first reported yesterday and while many like the BBC and theDaily Mail point out they are staged, others, like MSN, leave readers to believe this is real.
It is a cracking piece of public relations and turns a problem for the safari park - the fact the baboons are savvy enough to open roof boxes - into a piece of publicity that will draw in thousands of visitors over the school summer holidays that for many have already started. Clever eh?
The way these photographs, by Cavendish Press, have spread is a perfect illustration of the lower news thresholds that occur during the summer months because of the Silly Season. We recently offered a definition of the Silly Season.
Absolutely it would always have made the media, but not in the volume it has over the last 18 hours and will over the coming days. Indeed if there is no video footage of the incident, the television news will be clamouring, not unlike the baboons, to restage the staging so it can be captured on video too. Perhaps Knowsley Safari Park and their PR team has already thought of this? For a video of the baboons doing their worst to the luggage would be a viral hit!
Do you have an opportunity at your business that would make for a viral photograph or video? Is something unusual happening? Perhaps you have the next silly season story?