Tacky press release of the day

Following the awful devastation of Hurricane Katrina in the southern U.S. comes the inevitable tacky press releases in which vendors nearly break their hands patting themselves on the back for their associated good deeds. They’re doing good things, and darn it, they want credit!

Today’s winner is Vonage.

First, there’s the horrible headline: “BR General Receives Flood of Patients; PHNS Helps Baton Rouge Hospital Maintain Communications.” As one of our colleagues noted, “You think they could have used another word instead of ‘flood’?” To be fair, the release came off Business Wire, so we don’t know who wrote it. We do know Vonage decided to send it out to its press list.

The release goes on to detail how Baton Rouge General Hospital is making due with little more than spit, bailing wire and VoIP provided by Vonage.

Now, don’t get us wrong, we think it’s wonderful that companies like Vonage are stepping up to help in this unprecedented disaster; many more should follow suit. However, do they have to send out the press release? Can’t they just do a good thing for the sake for doing a good thing?