No such thing as bad publicity?
Posted by kjkoch on September 26, 2007
For my first blog entry, I’d like to discuss reputation management and why it’s important for celebrities.
Someone’s reputation is one of the only things he or she has complete control of. But with one wrong move, it could all come crashing down. Many say there is no such thing as bad publicity, but I disagree.
Take Britney Spears for example. For years, the pop princess was envied by teenagers all over the world for her ability to sing, dance and entertain. Recently, she has been entertaining the world with her ability to party, shave her head and lip sync. Crabbie Hollywood refers to Spears’ career as a “floating turd in the toilet waiting for the flush.”
Within a week, Spears shaved her head, attacked the paparazzi with an umbrella and entered and left rehab three times. It was obvious Britney needed help, but she continued partying and conveying a bad-girl image.
Then Spears’ highly anticipated “comeback” performance on the 2007 Video Music Awards on MTV turned into a disaster.
During her MTV performance, Britney clearly lip synced (video is posted below) and rumor has it, she was intoxicated! Since the performance, both her lawyer and manager dropped her as a client. Spears’ former bodyguard thinks Spears is her own biggest threat. Read more about it here.
When I do something wrong, I try to fix it immediately. It seems like the logical thing to do, but many celebrities have a hard time grasping this concept. It seems that making the same mistake over and over again is the thing to do in Hollywood.
I am not sure what goes through celebrities’ minds when they do things, but I would imagine their career and supporters would constantly be on their minds. Without people to buy their music or watch their movies, they wouldn’t have a career or money. People stop listening and buying products after a reputation is tarnished.
Bad publicity may generate more media attention, but is it really worth losing your reputation?
Publicity and Bad PR « PR Rocks said
[...] As Kelly Koch, Kent State University student and fellow PR blogger puts it, “people stop listening and buying products after a reputation is tarnished.” To read Koch’s take on Brittany Spears, check out her blog on reputation management. She discusses the latest case study for Brittany Spears in her blog entry No such thing as bad publicity. [...]
Elizabeth Marks said
There is apparently, using this as evidence, bad publicity. Bad publicity is defiantly not worth your reputation just for some media coverage. Not only does this ruin how people look at you and judge you, it ruins your career. In this case, people aren’t seeing her as an innocent pop star now. For all her younger audience, the chances of parents not allowing their kids to listen to her, or get her new CD for them for Christmas is really going to hurt her career. This made the whole world view her and loose respect for her as a person, musician, dancer, and celebrity. Bad publicity is defiantly not worth reputation in any circumstance.