Christmas, move over. Happy Halloween, everyone! It’s amazing how big a business Halloween has become. But that’s not the subject of this posting. Rather, let’s look at PR people attending the masquerade ball.

Last week, Slate’s Seth Stevenson reported receiving a spate of unsolicited e-mails inquiring how to get hold of the weird Burger King mask. Like any good reporter, he became suspicious of the queries’ authenticity, and wondered whether he was being flamed in an effort to create a viral buzz for the QSR’s quirky maskot. He called BK’s ad agency and received a “mealy-mouthed” denial from a PR person. The Times wrote about the exchange this weekend.

As the PR profession continues to grapple with how to properly engage the blogosphere — in spite of many self-anointed pundits claiming they have the answers — I know one thing: deception is not one of them. It smacks of planting paid actors in bars to talk up a “trendy” new cocktail.

What’s unfortunate is that the purveyors of this maskerade are no doubt celebrating all the media attention their little deception generated. Do the ends really justify the means?

The financial windfall Mel Gibson reaped by exploiting the wave of Christian revivalism has gone to his head. Next month, the monomaniacal, newly emboldened (and embearded) filmmaker will bankroll production on “Apocalypto,” a film of “mythic proportions” set 600 years ago, starring unknown Mexican actors who speak an extinct Mayan dialect. Gibson is writer and director.

Disney, which will release the film in the U.S., has a major PR/marketing challenge on its hands. If the studio’s most recent history is any indication, and Mr. Gibson remains true to form, look for “Heaven’s Gate,” oops, I mean “Apocalypto,” to come to a pew near you before next summer.

Ninety percent of the news releases that arrive on journalists’ desktops, fax machines and in snail-mail boxes are trashed or never opened. Here’s one that reporters will have a hard time ignoring. It is well-written, informative…and (front page) newsworthy. Look for it tomorrow at a newsstand near you, or if you can’t wait, open your news portal’s home page today. It comes with these free canned statements:

– Bush
– Cheney
– Libby
– Pelosi
– Academic Pundits