The Most Bizarre Publicist Pitches We’ve Ever Received

By Kelsey Mulvey

At any given time, an editor has hundreds of unread pitch emails from publicists waiting in his or her inbox. As editors, we’ve seen it all: The good, the bad, and incredibly bizarre. If you think your inbox is full of weird subject lines, just wait until you read the stories below.

1.The Subject Line: “Embarrassed by your excess body hair?”

The Editor: “First off, don’t insult an editor by assuming they have an excessive amount of  body hair. To add insult to injury, they can’t control that situation. The subject line was accompanied by an image of big foot—you know, the one. The last thing a beauty editor wants to be associated with is a beast with no discernible features.” —Beauty editor at a lifestyle magazine

2. The Subject Line: “Cannabis-inspired vibrator”

The Editor:  “I receive a ton of PR pitches for sex toys, including most recently a ‘cannabis-inspired vibrator.’ Totally fine if that’s your thing, but I write for a younger demographic—there’s no way I would ever write about that!” —Digital editor

3. The Subject Line: Any line that calls the product “boring”

The Editor: “I can’t tell you how many pitches I received that call an idea “boring” or “lame.” It’s truly bizarre and makes me sad! As a journalist, I want to be excited about the pitches I receive, so why can’t we make that a two-way street?” —Lifestyle reporter at business publication

4.  The Subject Line: “Have you ever lied about …”

The Editor: “There are so many bizarre subject lines. And then there’s always the one where they act like you had an exchange before. This is one I screen-shotted a while back… it was about canned soup.” —Social media editor at lifestyle site

5.  The Subject Line: “Please read this!!!”

The Editor: “Unfortunately, I was not the lucky lady to receive this email: My former intern found this in her inbox. I personally try to respond to every pitch email I receive, but this one even had me asking, ‘Desperate, much?’” —Commerce reporter at digital site

Kelsey Mulvey is a New York-based writer and commerce reporter at Business Insider. She has written for several publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Time Out New York, LuckyMag.com, Wallpaper.com. Check out more of her work at KelseyMulveyWrites.com and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.