Could be shock value. {pasted from internet below}: There is no such thing as bad publicity What's the meaning of the phrase 'There is no such thing as bad publicity'? 'There is no such thing as bad publicity' is the notion that all mentions in the media aid a person's cause, even if they put them in a bad light. What's the origin of the phrase 'There is no such thing as bad publicity'? 'There's no such thing as bad publicity' is often associated with Phineas T. Barnum, the 19th century American showman and circus owner. Barnum was a self-publicist of the first order and never missed an opportunity to present his wares to the public. As with many other supposed quotations, there's no hard evidence to link the 'bad publicity' quotation to him. The proverbial expression began to be used in the early 20th century. The earliest version that I have found in print is from the US newspaper The Atlanta Constitution, January, 1915: All publicity is good if it is intelligent. The thought behind the proverb had been expressed earlier by Oscar Wilde: The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.