Not too long ago, celebrities’ images were primarily built up by hired spokespeople, who carefully crafted public personas that may or may not have reflected the real person behind the public mask. If you read something written or said by your favorite celeb – chances are there was a clever PR person behind just about every word.
But now celebrities have their own Facebook and Twitter and YouTube accounts, and though professionals may be behind some of the content, it seems that the new medium gets the best of even the most untouchable people. After a few drinks (or more substantive matter), celebrities seem to log in and fill the Internet with rubbish that few PR people could have dreamt up. It’s pretty certain, for example, that songwriters like Amy Winehouse and John Mayer write their own Tweets and updates. And though it’s possible that the Lindsay Lohans of the world pay people to write their tweets, the content is often so a) unimpressive or b) potentially damaging to the star’s self-image (someone always seems to be doing damage control the next day) that it’s hard to imagine it could be intentional.
Could it be that celebrities now have small armies of image-guards whose job is to not only deal with the aftershocks of shameful public appearances, but also to patch up the public images after celebrities take matters into their own hands online? Is the free online marketing medium helping or hurting celebrities – or is any PR good PR, and any close contact with fans a relationship-builder?
No comments:
Post a Comment