Fascination With Celebrity

• A dominant factor in today’s mass media is thepublicizing and glorificationof celebrities

• Sports heroes, televisionpersonalities, radio talk-show hosts, members of the British royal family, movie stars, high-profile criminals and some politicians are written about, photographed and discussed almost incessantly

•In some cases, such celebrity results from natural public curiosity about an individual’s achievements or position in life.

• Frequently, however, it is carefully nurtured by publicists for the client’s ego satisfaction or commercial gain.

Enduring Celebrity: When the Good and Beautiful Die Young

• Celebrities exist in one-sided,idealized relationships in which thecelebrity demands nothing of us

• In death, this ideal relationship issevered and the youthful image isfrozen in time

• Even in death, both adulation and revenue can follow from celebrity

The Mystique of Personality

• The abundance of mass media outlets today and their intense competition for audiences draws on the natural instinct of humans to know about each other’s lives

• Appearances on talk shows, fawning TV interviews, sympathetic magazine articles, online chat sessions and ghost-written books contribute to the buildup

• “No-talents become celebrities all the time,”

• “Once TV started, the whole celeb-creation and worship careened out of control… TV gives the false impression that celebrities are talking right to you, and you feel like they’re your friends.”

Fame• Some individuals draw public

attention due to theiraccomplishments or positions

Notoriety• Even people who commit major

crimes or are involvedunfavorably in spectacular trialsare treated as celebrities

• “…For the first time in history, the machinery of communications is able to keep up with these demands, even to outrun them, creating new needs we never knew existed.”

Self-Glorification• Donald Trump– Put his name on the buildings and

casinos he bought– Has telephoned reporters with

stories about himself– “The consummate newsmaker

and celebrity.”

Repair of a Bad Image• PR counselors who specialize in

handling individuals sometimeswork to create a positive imagefor a prominent person who hasbeen cast in an unfavorable light

• Kathie Lee Gifford– Suffered a blow to her reputation

when it was revealed that some of her clothing line was made by Honduran child labor in New York Sweat Shops

– Gifford hired Howard Rubenstein, a counselor with 50 years in the profession, to help her.

Desire For Money• No one officially proclaims

who has celebrity status,but once a critical mass ofcoverage occurs, thatcelebrity’s value in themarketplace rises

• Once established as a star, companies such as Celebrity Connection provide unique services

• Indicative of the commercialization of personality is the success of companies that keep databases on well-known persons and offer daily bulletins on their comings and goings

Psychological Explanations

• Psychologists offer varied explanations of why the public becomes impressed/fascinated by highly publicized individuals

Psychological Explanations• Before TV, the publicity departments of the motion

picture studios promoted their stars as glamour figures who lived a special world of privilege and wealth

• Some young people went to Hollywood, hoping to achieving such glory for themselves

• Some visualized themselves in glamour figures’ places • Wish-fulfillment was and still is a compelling force• Exposure on the television in the intimacy of the family

living room, however, makes personalities seem much closer to admiring viewers today than the remote gods and goddesses were in the glory days of major motion picture studios

• In fact, reporters who talk on camera about celebrities attain celebrity status themselves.

• Many ordinary people leadingroutine lives yearn for heroes

• Professional and big-time collegesports provide personalities forhero worship

• Publicists emphasize theperformances of certain players, and television game announcers often build up the stars’ roles out of proportion to their achievements

• This creates hero figures for youthful sports enthusiasts to emulate

• Similar exaggerated treatment is applied to entertainers and politicians

• Still another factor is the desire for entertainment most people feel

• Reading fan magazines, watching a favorite star being interviewed, or lining up in front of a box office – these are ways to bring variety and a little excitement into the daily routine of life

• A PR practitioner assigned to build up the public image of an individual should analyze the ways in which these psychological factors can be applied

• Because the client’s cooperation is vital in promotional work, a wise publicist explains this background and tells the client why various actions are planned

The Practitioner’s Responsibility

• Handling publicity for an individual carries special responsibilities

• Often the client turns to the publicist for personal advice, especially when trouble arises

Damage Control• A practitioner handling an

individual client is responsible forprotecting the client from badpublicity as well as generatingpositive news

• When the client appears in a badlight because of misbehavior or irresponsible public statement, the publicist must try to minimize the harm done to the client’s public image

• The objective is damage control

• A similar approach is recommended for Hollywood celebrities who are caught in scandalous acts or unfounded rumor mills

• Experts suggest immediate response so that the momentum of subsequent stories is minimized

• A brief, honest statement of regret for bad behavior or denial of rumors works well

• TV’s mass audience enjoys celebrity news• TV lends itself to a short statement that makes a

perfect 20-second sound bite to fit in a brief story• Then the celebrity needs to disappear from sight and

take care of personal matters

Ethical Problems for Publicists• Personal misconduct by a client, or the appearance of

misconduct, strains a practitioner’s ingenuity and at times his or her ethical principles

• Some practitioners will lie outright to protect a client, a dishonest practice that looks even worse if the media show the statement to be a lie

• On occasion, a practitioner acting in good faith may be victimized because the client has lied

• Issuing a prepared statement to explain the client’s conduct, while leaving reporters and their editors dissatisfied, is regarded as safer than having the client call a news conference, unless the client is a victim of circumstances and is best served by talking fully and openly

Conducting a Personality Campaign• A campaign to generate public awareness of an

individual should be planned just as meticulously as any other public relations project

• Practitioners conducting such campaigns follow a standard step-by-step process– Interview the Client– Prepare a Biography of the Client– Plan a Marketing Strategy– Conduct the Campaign

Conduct the Campaign• In most cases, the best course is to project the client

on multiple media simultaneously.• Radio and television appearances create public

awareness and often make news-paper feature stories easier to obtain

• Every such approach should include a news or feature angle for the interviewer to develop.

• Photographs of the client should be submitted to the print media as often as justifiable

• Public Appearances are another way to intensify awareness of individual clients

Conduct the Campaign

• Awards– A much-used device, and a successful

one, is to have a client receive an award.– The practitioner should be alert for news

of awards to be given and nominate theclient for appropriate ones

– Follow-up communications with persuasive material from the practitioner may convince the sponsor to make the award to the client

– In some instances, the idea of an award is proposed to an organization by a practitioner, whose client then conveniently is declared the first recipient

– The entertainment business generates immense amounts of publicity for individuals and shows with its Oscar and Emmy awards

– Winning an Academy Award greatly strengthens a performer’s career– Psychologists believe that televised awards ceremonies give viewers a

sense of structure in their life

Conduct the Campaign

• Nicknames and Labels– Catchy nicknames for clients, especially sports and entertainment

figures, helps the practitioner get their names into print

• Record the Results– Those who employ practitioners want tangible results in return for their

fees– The practitioner also needs to compile and analyze the results of a

personality campaign to determine the effectiveness of the various methods used

– Tearsheets, photographs, copies of news releases and, when possible, video clips of the client’s public appearances should be given to the client

– Clipping services help the practitioner assemble this material– At the end of the campaign, or at intervals in a long-term program,

summaries of what has been accomplished should be submitted to the client

Promoting an Entertainment Event• Attracting attendance at an event requires a well planned

publicity campaign• The primary goal of any campaign for an entertainment event

is to sell tickets• Advance publicity buildup informs listeners, readers and

viewers that an event will occur and stimulates their desire to attend

• Stories about a forthcoming theatrical event should concentrate on the personalities, style, popularity of the activity or product

• Every time the product or show is mentioned, public awareness grows

• Thus, astute practitioners search for fresh news angles to produce as many stories as possible

Promoting an Entertainment Event• The “Drip-Drip-Drip” Technique

– A steady output of information about the production– A public relations specialist, called a unit man or woman, is assigned to

a film during production and turns out a flow of stories for the general and trade press and plays host to media visitors to the set

– The TV networks mail out daily news bulletins about their shows to media television editors

– They assemble the editors annually to preview new programs and interview their stars

– The heaviest barrage of publicity is released shortly before the show openings

– One danger of excessive promotion of an event, however, is that audience expectation may become too high, so that the performance proves to be a disappointment

– A skilled practitioner will stay away from “hype” that can lead to a sense of anticlimax

A Look at the Movie Industry

• Motion picture public relationsdepartments use market researchand demographics andpsychographics to define thetarget audiences they seek toreach

• Most motion picture publicity is aimed at 18 to 24 year olds, where the largest audience lies

• Seventy-five percent of the film audience is under age 39, although increased attendance by older moviegoers has become evident recently

• Professional entertainment publicity work is concentrated in New York and Los Angeles, the former as the nation’s theatrical center and the latter as the motion picture center

• American TV production is divided primarily between these two cities, with the larger portion in Los Angeles

• A typical Los Angeles-area PR firm specializing in personalities and entertainment has two staffs:– Planters– Bookers

• Some publicity stories are for general release; others are prepared especially for a single media outlet such as a syndicated Hollywood columnist or a major newspaper

• The latter type is marked “exclusive,” permitting the publication or station that uses it to claim credit for “breaking” the story

• Another device is to provide supplies of tickets for a new movie or show to radio stations, whose disc jockeys award them to listeners as prizes in on-the-air contests

• Glamorous premieres and trips for media guests to distant points so that they can watch the filming or attend the opening are used occasionally, too

• For such services to individual or corporate entertainment clients, major Hollywood publicists charge at least $3,000 a month, with a three-month minimum

• The major studios and networks have their own PR staffs

• Entertainment firms also may specialize in arranging product placement in movies and TV programs

• Usually the movie or TV producers trade visible placement of a product in the show in exchange for free use of the item in the film

• Many aspiring PR students believe it would be fun and glamorous to work in entertainment PR

• The glamour and glitz and fascination of the personalities does exists, but being a publicist to the stars can have drawbacks

• Dates back to the ancient Mayan civilizationAverage PR Practitioner

in PR Students’ minds.

• Challenges of being a Celebrity Publicist:– Hectic Pace– Late Hours– Demands of Magazines for Exclusives

• The paparazzi with their invasive cameras and tabloids with their scurrilous headlines both seek to do damage to your celebrity client – simply to sell newspapers and tabloids

• Your job as a celebrity publicist is to manage these forces effectively for your client

• One of the biggest challenges is dealing with wrongdoing on the part of a celebrity

• Do’s and Don’ts of Litigation PRFor Celebrities:– Do make sure your statements

are accurate– Do get written approval of all

statements before releasing them– Do ask the attorney to speak directly to media– Don’t keep quiet– Don’t avoid giving details– Don’t talk too much