How to pitch a candy bar with a slightly rude name

A PR pro explains how she pitched the Dale Earnhardt Jr. endorsed candy bar, “Big Mo.”

A PR pro explains how she pitched the Dale Earnhardt Jr. endorsed candy bar, “Big Mo.”

With Dale Earnhardt Jr. endorsing a product, it would have seemed like a slam-dunk media elations campaign for PR pro Wendy Manning—after all, NASCAR driver Earnhardt Jr. is one of the world’s biggest sports personalities.

However, all was not easy for Manning, a senior account executive at Volume PR in Centennial, Colo.: The product she was pitching was a candy bar called “Big Mo’” (as in, the gay slur), and Manning didn’t have access to the NASCAR star for her pitches.

Thanks to some clever angles, Manning nevertheless landed solid coverage in The (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call newspaper and on syndicated radio. Here’s how she pitched the Big Mo’ without constantly collapsing into giggles.

Background: Challenge after challenge

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