"The Daily Show": Good American PR?

I read on The New York Times blog this morning that "The Daily Show" episodes will be fully archived on thedailyshow.com. First I mulled over the affect that being able to view years worth of episodes at the touch of a button might have on my motivation to get anything done. Then I fantasized about having hours and hours worth of John Stewart at my finger tips, but I don't want to disturb anyone with those details.

My third thought was about the popularity, both here and abroad, of American's making fun of America. I noticed this when I was studying abroad in Sweden and everyone gathered around the television to watch The Simpson's every night. The popularity of The Simpsons and The Daily Show in other countries shows that non-Americans enjoy seeing that we have the ability to make fun of ourselves.

In a way the exportation of these types of shows is a clever way of bolstering America's reputation, maybe better than actual government-sponsored PR campaigns.

It's kind of like how there could be the perfect popular girl. She is beautiful, charismatic, fun, smart etc. Now, if you give that girl a self-deprecating sense of humor and the ability to make fun of her position as ms. popular? Her likability factor would multiply by 100.

I think that everyone like to see the U.S make fun of itself too. I'm not saying we are ms. popular, because we definitely are not. But as a country we do have the world power that ms. popular would have at her high school. It's not as funny when everyone else makes fun of us. People want to see that we are capable of ripping on our own flaws. There is nothing worse than a ms. popular who takes herself to seriously.

Maybe this is an important PR message. What would happen if the ms. populars of the corporate world were able to see their flaws, display them, make fun of them and then eventually try to identify how to fix them? Instead of trying to always present a perfect image and cover up any flaws, why not expose them in a humorous way? Or if the corporation isn't willing to do this themselves, what impact could a John Stewart-like character have on the public's perception of the company?

Would it really be a disaster to have a flaw or weakness exposed? If the organization can embrace the flaw I think that it might show the public a more human, honest and transparent side.

I think that The Simpson's and John Stewart are two of our most valuable international ambassadors. They show the world that we DO in fact see how stupid we are sometimes, and that is an admirable quality.