Greensboring

I was lucky to attend university outside of the United States. I have strong group of friends and former colleagues that reside outside of North America. In the last 48 hours, I've received numerous messages about the events playing out in U.S. airports with regards to President Trump's ban of travelers from seven Muslim majority countries. In addition to the outrage many of us hold on a personal level, equally, many of us in public relations are scratching our head with regards to why this was implemented in the way it was, which frankly, appears to have little foresight.

As we see tens of thousands of protesters in cities across the world fight for freedom and countries such as Iraq and Iran threatening retaliation, you have to ask, is Trump just that stupid or is he a genius? Is his public relations team that poor or was this the response that was intended? Coming from an international relations background I have a unique perspective, but we will get to that.

So what went …

Something strange is going on, something's wrong at my local grocer store, a Food Lion. The deli and bakery are missing. Rumors are flying around town as to what's happening. Did the snow storm crush the roof? Is it water damage or is there something more mysterious? As it happens, it's nothing more than continued renovations of the store... but no one told the customers.

In a world of communications where transparency is often the only thing holding your reputation together, not telling the customers anything seems like a little bit of deception. More importantly, why not tell the customers of your super cool improvements coming their way? Before the local townspeople crack completely at their inability to purchase their sliced bologna, I have to wonder if this is poor public relations or something more.

Food Lion is selling it to the media in larger markets (where curious journalists have reached out to the company's media relations) as:
The remodels are part of Foo…