PR people smile too much?

Was just having breakfast with an editor friend this morning and somehow, the conversation turned back towards work. My friend (let's call him D for dude), said something about PR people being all the same that kind of struck a chord with me.



As best as I can recall, that part conversation went like this:

Me: So how's are you finding the PR agencies in XXX country?
D: Well, they are all the same lah.
Me: What do you mean?
D: Haha... all PR people always come across as happy, chirpy people who smile too much and sound too cheerful.
Me: Ya what, what do you expect them to do?
D: Well, it does make sense as its part of their job, but this means everyone sounds the same.
[Me, thinking: This is food for thought]

Which is what got me to this point. Are all of us PR people just too generic-smiley? Should we throw a dash of a frown somewhere? Or a bit of a consternation-type look?

In truth, there are off-times when you can catch PR people in their most honest of expressions. By far, the best comment I got from a journalist about another PR person, was: "Why does (he / she - gender unspecified to protect the innocent) always look so constipated?" See... we do know how to have another expression other than "smile."

So here's another leaf to go into my retirement plan, one day once I'm out of this industry, I'll write a book titled "Wipe that smile off your face - how PR people can use facial expressions other than smiles to communicate."