PR stunt

Meaning

1. 1nouncountable

   a planned public event or action designed mainly to attract media attention and improve how people see a person or company.

   Grammar: Countable: you can say a PR stunt, two PR stunts, or the company's latest PR stunt.

   Patterns

   • a PR stunt for something
   • stage a PR stunt
   • dismiss something as a PR stunt

   The free taxi rides were just a PR stunt to get the mayor on the evening news.

   Critics called the charity concert a PR stunt, but it did raise a lot of money.

   The airline apologized after its PR stunt went wrong and delayed hundreds of passengers.

Word forms

Common combinations

stage a PR stunt

The brand staged a PR stunt by dropping thousands of balloons in the square.

a publicity stunt

Many people saw the wedding as a publicity stunt rather than a real celebration.

dismiss something as a PR stunt

The minister dismissed the report as a PR stunt by his opponents.

pull off a PR stunt

It takes careful planning to pull off a PR stunt without upsetting the public.

Synonyms and how they differ

publicity stunt

Almost the same meaning, but it focuses on getting attention in general, not specifically on protecting a reputation.

gimmick

A trick or clever idea used to attract attention; it is broader and can describe small marketing tricks, not just big public events.

Word family

PR noun

Public relations; the work of managing how a company or person is seen by the public.

publicist noun

A person whose job is to get good publicity for someone.

Commonly confused: PR stunt or publicity?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “PR stunt”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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