What's the word “fa**ot” worth? $169,000 according to the University of Hawaii.

That's the full financial penalty UH football coach Greg McMackin is forking over for his clumsy use of the term when describing Notre Dame's celebration upon winning the Hawaii Bowl earlier this year.

The penalties seem steep, exaggerated and blown out of proportion.

There's no doubt that McMackin's use of the word was wrong. If I heard my kids use that word in describing another person, a quick reprimand would be in order.

But the context was appropriate for some competitive ribbing from a coach directed at an opposing team. Football is a competitive sport. There's a lot of bravado out there on the field, in the locker rooms and throughout media. Do we expect this hard-hitting sport to descend to the level of croquet?

Choose any other word. Panty. Girly. Lame. Anything but that “f” word. And coach probably wouldn't be in the hot water he's in right now.

We need to remember something. He was talking about the Notre Dame dance. He wasn't deriding gay people. He was, as head football coach, standing up for UH. Now he's taking one for the team.

And for this, he's being severely punished. Harshly. $169,000 worth of harsh.

My point is, the gist of his remarks was totally acceptable, given the context. What coach McMackin meant to say was “Our ha'a is better than your silly little clap dance.”

Again, bravado from a football coach. It's what we expect. It's what we want. He was a good sport about the game as Notre Dame beat UH soundly. And he acknowledged that.

If anything, the beef should be coming from Notre Dame. But really, it shouldn't. Their coach, Charlie Weis, said that the football team was “offended.” Are you kidding me? A bunch of football players offended by an opposing coach's comments? Whatever happened to the equally strong verbal rebuke? Charlie, you were offended? You're a football coach, dude. That kind of talk comes with the territory. You know that!

Is this going to be the standard by which we will measure ourselves? Or does this apply only to coaches of major universities? How many times have the phrase “that's so gay!” been uttered on the campus of any university? My guess, thousands. And certainly by faculty and students alike.

The Bravo TV show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” was a huge hit. The word “queer” has always been a derogatory term for gays. No fines or suspensions here. In fact, the gay community embraced the show and members of the cast received awards. Is the difference that the use is coming from gays? Like when African Americans use the n-word? Quite the double standard. If these words are so verbotten, we should not accept them on any level from anyone.

Remember, too, the guy made a mistake. And he realized it immediately. Granted, he didn't handle himself well at the very moment. But he knew it as soon as he said it. And he apologized immediately. Give Coach McMackin credit for trying to right his wrong on the spot instead of brushing it off and delaying his candor.

But, no. We take an honorable man and hang him by his gonads for the entire nation to see. For a mistake. An error in judgment in the heat of a moment.

Makes you wonder what the university would have done had Coach McMackin done some nefarious deed deliberately and then lied about doing it. Where does this punishment leave room for egregious, purposeful actions? Make it an 8% dock in pay and 60 days suspension? 9%? 10%? There is no other disciplinary action short of firing.

Read the reactions on the news websites. They are mixed at best. Some say “big deal.” Others say, “too harsh.” A few say “good, it's a start.” Some remind us that it's football. And if you can't handle it, go play jacks.

The penalty is overblown. An appropriate response would have been a reprimand with a record in his employment file.

Coach McMackin now has to work personally with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community on campus at UH-Manoa. His fine will go toward an LGBT intern who will run awareness workshops on campus. He'll have to give presentations during student orientations. And McMackin will have to support awareness & sensitivity training at UH.

This is outrageous and humiliating. As if the financial penalties and multiple public apologies weren't enough. The university is dragging this man through the mud for a simple error in judgment. A very public error. But again, a mistake. Not something done on purpose with the intent to harm.

Michael Vick deserves what he got; his actions were on purpose. He meant to fight dogs. He meant to kill these animals. And he lied about it.

Greg McMackin was supporting his team, recalling a defeat at home against Notre Dame. Coach McMackin was defending his home turf. His only problem was a poor choice of words.

But then that leads to this. Are we not a country that supports freedom of speech? We let people burn flags. We let people disparage our presidents. We let people express themselves in ways unimaginable to our founding fathers. And we let these expressions hide under the forgiving umbrella of freedom of speech.

Unless it happens at a large, state-run university that cowers under everything resembling anything.

We protect the feelings of everyone, blind to the fact that this is an impossible task.

For the record, I have friends in the LGBT community. And I remain friends with them. But it doesn't mean I agree with their sexual practices. I have friends who are Democrats. I have friends who are Republicans. I have friends who are Libertarians. Doesn't mean I agree with their politics.

McMackin's punishment is too harsh. Reprimand the guy for losing his composure in that moment. But remember to support him as he fights for his university.

The saying goes, “there's a reason for everything.” And it should apply to commercials too.

I'm thinking about that new Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) commercial touting their new grilled chicken. I've tasted it, by the way. It's pretty good. Doesn't come close to the original recipe KFC, but I'd order it again.

So anyway, this KFC commercial has several different pairs of people trying the new grilled chicken and, of course, liking it. The one pair of guys I don't understand is the two Japanese guys. What's the reason for them being in this KFC spot? I can't figure it out.

Are they gunning for the Asian consumer, who looks nothing like the pseudo-samurai guys in the commercial? It's kinda funny that they're there. They have their Japanese accents. You can hear it when the one guy says, “Chickennnnnn.” They're wearing Japanese garb, hapi coats and red and white head bands.

The rest of the commercial is like most we see nowadays with a mix of ethnicities. There's white, black and these two Japanese guys. Funny, there are no detectable Hispanics in the spot.

The problem is, the two Japanese guys look like they were plucked out of a bad Japanese game show. What 21^st century Asian-American dresses like that? No one I know.

As far as the TV commercial goes, it's effective. Watch it and you get the idea that KFC has added a grilled chicken to the menu. Cool idea. But then you have to ask, why are the cartoonish Japanese guys in the commercial? They don't serve a purpose other than to make you laugh at their humorous, forced Asian appearance.

I would go so far to say that they're slightly distracting. It would have been far more effective to put in a couple of average looking Asian-American in there without accents and dressed in regular clothes from Gap.

I'm Asian-American myself. I don't look at this commercial and get upset about the perpetuation of a stereotype. Although, it probably does have that effect. I look at it and laugh (mockingly) at KFC and think, “What the heck were you thinking?”

It's a big July 4^th weekend.  I suspect lots of car dealers sell lots of cars this weekend, even in this economy.

This afternoon I brought my son to a local car dealership to take part in their contest.  They were giving away a 2009 Hummer H3, a mortgage paid for a year, an ATV and various amounts of cash.

Some 50,000 households were mailed a flyer earlier this week.  On the flyer is a lucky number, supposedly unique to your flyer.  The way the contest works, you take that flyer down and see if it matches the numbers for the prizes. 

Having been in Radio for most of my professional career, I know what's going on.  But for a chance to win a big prize, the effort on the part of the contestant is minimal.  So why not?

We drive down to the car dealership and park.  There are no signs supporting the contest itself, so we kind of have to guess that we're in the right place.  We check the address.  Yep, this is it.

PROMO LAW #1: Make sure your on-site signage matches your direct mail piece so the customer knows he/she is in the right place.

There is absolutely nothing in the showroom area that links this dealership to the contest.  Nothing.

We walk maybe 10 feet into the showroom area.  No one is there to greet us.  We had just walked past the receptionist.  I walk back to her desk, holding up our lucky number flyer.  “Is this you?” I ask.  She nods.

PROMO LAW #2: Receptionists are often the face of a company.  They certainly give the first impression, which always needs to be perfect.  Take time to greet people.  Notice the flyer in hand.  Use it as a conversation starter.

We venture further into no man's land, a wide swath of salesmanship bravado.  The shiny floor of an American car dealership. 

You would think with the struggle car dealerships are having nowadays that anyone walking the floor would be greeted and treated.  “Hi, welcome to car dealership USA.  Your 4^th of July weekend starts right here.  Hi, my name is Slick.  How can I help you?”  Instead, we get nothing.  No attention at all.

We walk to the end of this long showroom floor, easily 100 feet long.  The big Hummer is the first car in the line.  There are Escalades and Caddys.  Cars line the showroom floor left and right.

There are three plastic fold-up tables in the middle of the showroom for writing and trading information.  Three of them are occupied.  There are other car sales people off to the left in offices and lounges.  No one comes out to greet us.  Maybe we don't look like we're going to buy a car. 

PROMO LAW #3: Everyone is a customer, no matter what they look like.  If not today, maybe tomorrow.

My son, who, because he's my son, has a better sense of conducting a promotion and a contest.  He's getting antsy already because no one has greeted us.  No one has even acknowledged us.  My savvy son says, “Let's hang out here next to the guy at the table.”  The guy is a car salesman who's helping someone else with the contest.  The kid has a good idea.  So we stand right next to the tables.  There's no missing us.  OK, maybe there is evidently because still no one pays us any attention.  One sales guy even walked right by us and didn't say a word.  I expect to hear, “Hi, someone will be with you in a moment.”  Nothing.

Well we just wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Until...

One of the sales guys comes out of those rooms and onto the floor.  He helps one couple with their contest form.  And then he comes over to us.  Looks me right in the eye and says hello.  This was the first thing anyone did right by us since we stepped foot onto the vast sales floor.

I say to our car sales guy, “Can you tell me if I won anything?”  I ask as I'm holding out our contest flyer.  He says, “Let's check the board.”  And we proceed to walk over to the glass walls that make up those rooms over on the left of the showroom floor.  There, propped up on the ledge is a foam core board about 18” high and 24” long.  It looks just like the flyer we got in the mail.  This is full confirmation that we are in the right place.

PROMO LAW #4: Make sure your graphic material echoes all around.  Consistency in signage helps create clarity and eliminate confusion.  You cannot over communicate your promotion.

Our super sales guy fades like a falling star.  He just leaves us there to decipher what's on the board.  I see the Hummer.  I see the house representing the mortgage.  I see the huge tires of the ATV.  I ask my son, who now has the flyer, “what's our number?”  He points to the last box on the promo foam core.  Right above our number we see “$2.”  There you have it.  Our winnings for the day: $2.  Not even enough for a gallon of gas.  But more than we came in with so we'll take it!

PROMO LAW #5: Engage your customers.  Help them understand the contest, how to play, how to win, where to look.  You've got face time.  Use it to make a friend out of a walk-in stranger.

Our studly sales person just left us there with no explanation.  Not even a trivial, “What's your number?”  or “Let's see what you won.”  Engage your customer and make him/her feel like they're the only one on the floor, the only contestant playing and about to win a gazillion bucks.  Watch Pat Sajak on Wheel of Fortune.  Every spin is the best spin, the next one to win.  And he treats each contestant as if they were the only person playing the game.

In order to collect our winning, we had to fill out a form.  It's a car dealership so I figured they'd want some kind of information.  Why else would they run a promotion like this?  Super sales guy walks us over to one of those plastic tables in the center of the floor.  He slides a piece of paper off a stack and says, “Here, fill this out.”  And then he walks away.

PROMO LAW #5 CONTINUED:  Continue to engage your customer.  Congratulations! Where'd you drive in from? What do you drive?  How old is your son?  I bet you wanted to win that Hummer!  

It's a form for contact and personal finance information.  So, no, I wasn't going to give him everything.  Once he saw that I wasn't writing anything down, he checked and asked, “You finished filling that out?”  I said yeah, and you don't need all that info from me anyway, right?  He took the form and walked away. In a minute he came back with two dollar coins and handed them to me.  Then he was off to some other customer.

PROMO LAW #6: When the customer is done and leaving your promotion, always say “Thanks for coming.”  There are a million choices out there for anyone to make, including not doing anything.  When someone chooses you, you better be grateful!  And please don't act grateful, BE grateful.

Remember this was a car dealership.  Not everyone is in the market for a car (or whatever it is you're selling).  But they might be one day.  And you want them to remember you later.  What this sales guy (and maybe the entire dealership) failed to do was give me his business card for future reference.  I have no idea who he is.  Would I go back if I needed to buy a Hummer?  Yeah, maybe.  But I'm sure I would seek out the most friendly, helpful, courteous person on the floor who gave me the time of day instead of shrugging me off as just some contest player. 

Even though that's exactly what I was today.

There are lots more rules and guidelines, dos and don'ts.  This is just a start; a case-study from a live, actual promotion. Hopefully yours will go much smoother and with far fewer customer relationship mistakes.