In this post on the Comms Women platform, Kinsey Mitchell, a student at the University of Alabama, College of Communication and Information Sciences, analyses an article by Kate Fitch on celebrity and public relations, published by Public Relations Inquiry.
Today the world revolves heavily around the media. Celebrities play a major part in the advertising, entertainment, and political world. Each celebrity has a very specific image that they want the world to see them in. In Kate Fitch’s article, she shows how PR plays a large role in creating fame and a good image. Fitch believes that PR is more than just about fixing crises and planning publicity stunts. PR is about helping make a narrative and playing with what really happened and what they want it to look like. Although in today’s world these are more noticeable.
Fitch makes it noted that celebrities do not have a career without the people who support them. This means the PR people need to make sure there is a bridge between both parties of people. The idea is that celebrities do not just become lucky they instead have good promotions. They need to be seen such as interviews and be the face of different things. Along with that these things need to be in a positive light.
The case studies of Australian publicists Max Markson and Roxy Jacenko draw on how PR strategies change in each situation. Markson shows the old-school approach relying on things like traditional media coverage and grabbing attention by using publicity stunts. On the other side, Jacenko wants to use social media influence more. Such as personal branding. Social media has many different types of people now from celebrities to micro celebrities. PR has become bigger than just the Hollywood stars and singers. Today self-promotion is becoming more and more common with social media influencers. Influencers want to stay in the eye of the public and do things that will create a good view of them.
Fitch brings up the commodification of personal identity as well. Mostly through the eyes of influencers like Pixie Curtis. She is a child celebrity who has her PR managed by her mother. This is a direct example of PR crossing the line between personal life and commercial enterprise. Fitch points out the ethical complexities of celebrity PR. Something that goes into this majorly is the stretching of the truth. When does the line become lying? Publicists show narratives that lead people to believe what they want them to see. Along with that the view of putting children online could be seen as exploitation and brings up questions about consent, and privacy. Throughout the article we are pushed to look at PR as a big influence in not just how we see celebrities but also as a society with values and different views. There is a large range of people who use and rely on PR strategies. Fitch wants to show everyone that the power that PR has should not be something that is so easily overlooked by the public.
Public relations is the hidden hand. PR has its hand in everything and many times we do not even realize it. Although in recent times it has become more noticeable in the current times. We need to understand the importance of PR so that it gives us a better understanding of why things are the way they are and how things are shaped.
Reference
Fitch, K. (2017). Seeing ‘the unseen hand’: Celebrity, promotion and public relations. Public Relations Inquiry, 6(2), 157-169. https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X17709064 (Original work published 2017)