Babel blog - random thoughts from the Babel team

Irish satirist, the Reverend Jonathon Swift is widely credited with originating the adage, “You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear”.  You can’t argue with it in the literal sense but that doesn’t mean something can’t be done with the sow’s ear. Even the reverend would have been impressed with the efforts of Massachusetts industrialist Arthur D. Little in 1921.

Always up for challenge, Little decided to test the theory. He first purchased a form of glue made from the skin and gristle of sows' ears (and requested an affidavit that it had indeed been extracted from the ears of the poor departed pigs). That glue was then mixed 

with water, acetone and chrome alum, filtered under pressure and placed in a spinning apparatus. The filaments generated were combined into a thread, soaked in a bath of glycerine and dyed. What resulted was a fair approximation of silk which was then used to create a purse (as shown).

It occurred to me that the enterprising Little’s efforts are not unlike the challenge we face in the public relations. Very often we don’t have the ideal raw materials but when faced with that situation there are two choices. You either admit defeat (like Swift) or take on the challenge (like Little) and use what you have to produce the best possible result.

It’s the choice between damage limitation ("Yes, I know we don’t have any silk but were trying to find some") and positive promotion ("We’ve got a new material with the qualities of silk that can be produced in quantity anywhere in the world").

Those of you who already know of Little’s sow’s ear purse, may also know that the ‘silk’ produced wasn’t actually very good quality but despite that, it doesn’t detract from the message – taking a sideways look at the problem in hand can produce surprisingly good results. As far as I’m concerned, Arthur D. Little has earned his place in the PR Hall of Fame.