Tb718's Blog
now if i could just figure out how to break into the advertising world!Archive for March, 2010
what if poor people had access to public relations?
Who speaks for the poor? How do they get their voice heard? What if poor people had access to public relations? Would the world change of be different? I believe the answer is yes. Ironically, people are taught how important groups are and working together yet the people who have no choice but to follow those rules are the people who do not have a voice and do not get heard. I’d like to use hurricane Katrina victims for example, if the poor people had a voice would they still be left to fend for themselves? If the people in the 9th ward of New Orleans knew how to write a press release detailing the storm that was approaching and the lackluster condition of the levees do you think the press would have a paid attention? What if those dying of hungry and thirst knew how to call a press conference to discuss the dire conditions they were experiencing post levee break, do you think then people would have paid attention? What about if the members of the 9th ward mostly poor and undedicated, knew that the best way to get help through duty, or at the very least sympathy was to choose what images were released to press by strategically picking images of less poor, less uneducated and less Black babies, children and elderly then were actually effected, would that have changed the response time? If the community of the 9th ward knew how to market themselves as important and influential that they would have their homes rebuilt by the insurance companies like many of the wealthy that continue to re-build their million dollar summer homes on exclusive areas of the gulf coast after storms?
I wonder what would happen if poor people had access to public relations
I spent long enough in hollywood to know everything is fake.
I hate to say it but this is an almost accurate portrayal of how public relations works in Hollywood. Hollywood and the entertainment industry is a different beast from corporate public relations or marketing altogether. In the entertainment industry, to be a successful public relations practitioner you need to get the job done, get publicity and do it anyway short of illegal…some of course to cross the line of ethical and illegal but in general you must how to create, maintain and recreate a fake world(image) that your celebrity client can be shown in the best light. Although, its fast paces and excited it is definitely not for the faint of heart.
Why is the PR department so…?
Thinking back on my experience and what I have learned in Public relations classes I feel there is such a large disconnect. On top of that why are those in PR (communication departments on a whole) so damnned defensive about their field and courses to study? I havent experienced this in any other field of education.
It seems that to get a PR degree, the PR department would work more with the business department than journalism.
Reality Check
I watched E!’s new reality show “pretty wild” in which 3 girls under the age of 21 are showcased living a “hollywood” life style. The mother,Andrea Arlington, is a former playboy model and wild child now turned self help something or other who has no control over her 3 wild daughters Gabrielle Neiers,15, Alexis Neiers,18, and Tess Taylor, 19. The daughters all say they are aspiring models but they constantly find themselves caught like salivating vampires in flash of the papratzi flashes. Each morning, sometimes only a few hours after getting in, if they have come home at all, we see the mother, Andrea feeding them Adderalll which is a medicine perscribed for ADHD, but has become a trend in hollywood because one of the side effects is weight loss (there has been a rising trend among undergrad, grad, law and med schools for students to consume Adderall because of its help with increasing alertness, libido, concentration and overall cognitive performance while decreasing user fatigue). In its premeire episode we see the girls, disrespecting their mother, swinging around a stripper pole, and at a club with some muscians. Most striking is the girls actually lget arrested and a warrent is served on their home causing them to loose a contract with a jean company as their spokesmodel and model for LA fashion week.
I couldnt help thinking to myself how do these people keep getting reality shows and why do young people continue to look up to people like this as people they want to be like…IMAGE!
My thoughts were even more clear when I woke up the next morning lucky enough to catch on of those court shows. There were a couple of wild acting poor black girls whose mother was totally fed up. Instead, this show the girls were scolded and looked down on for acting and behaving similar to the girls on the E! show. How could this be? How could the same behavior be looked at differently? IMAGE!
wow, for any of you who doubt the power of IMAGE or PR, just start observing the American pop culture?
