Hey PB,
Having been in Marketing/Advertising and PR for a while I would say NO, without hesitation when it comes to a company, however people are somewhat different.
Bad publicity, when it comes to a company, even 1 time can have severe consequences and break a company, unless it can be spun in the right direction, which is sometimes is very hard to do.
Bad Publicity however for an individual in some odd way, "Can" sometimes boost their rep. Hence a rock star gets into a bar fight and gets thrown into jail... He is personified then as a "bad Boy" and it can boost their image on some level, or a Super Star Gets caught flashing... etc...
Another example is a movie... Faces of Death for example.. It got ? Bad? publicity due to being banned in like 46 countries and the nature of the film... Well when it came out on video/DVD it was a huge draw due to the controversial nature and "wrenched" publicity"
So it all depends on the situation...
Just my opinion...
Talk to you soon hun...and see you in FL
--=Chipmunk=--
