“It doesn’t matter what they say as long as they spell your name right,” goes the old showbiz cliche.

But that’s just not true. Your brand can be battered by bad publicity.

Just ask Lindsay Lohan. She made $11 million in 2007. Today the tabloids say she’s not only broke, but owes $600 thousand on her credit cards. In three short years she’s gone from Hollywood hero to drug addicted zero.

Offhand, I’d say the publicity hasn’t been good for her.

Controversy may sell newspapers, but it doesn’t always work out well for the person or organization caught in the cross-fire.

These days it’s popular for advertisers to “shatter the noise” by being provocative.

A national atheists’ group recently put up billboards in several Bible Belt states that read simply, “Don’t believe in God? Join the club.”

The in-your-face billboards have attracted millions of dollars in free publicity with all the national news media attention the atheists have received, but what’s less clear is how many new members they’ve actually attracted.

In 2006 Tourism Australia spent $180 million on edgy ads which asked tourists the question “Where the bloody hell are you?”

The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK received so many complaints about the profanity, that they ordered the removal of roadside billboards bearing the slogan. The ads received global media attention but the campaign was soon deemed a failure and withdrawn.

After crunching the numbers they found tourism actually dropped during the time the ads were running.

Watch the controversial commercial

The bottom line is that if you’re going to embrace controversy to sell any good, product or service, you better have a strong stomach. Inviting media criticism is an art that very few have mastered and the price may be more than you’re willing to pay.