Promotional Culture and Convergence by Helen Powell

Author:Helen Powell [Powell, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Media Studies
ISBN: 9781136474385
Google: ekCsg-v7LV4C
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-04-17T03:43:59+00:00

Celebrities and spectacles as public relations promotional techniques

Turner et al (2000: 30) discuss the use of events in public relations as presenting both a ‘promotional opportunity – and a particular kind of experience’. This demonstrates how relationship-building increasingly converges with publicity-oriented aspects of public relations. For example, media attending events organized by public relations practitioners are being entertained and given an experience, as well as, or sometimes instead of, being provided with information. This can be seen in the longstanding relationship developed between Audi and the Elton John Aids Foundation. Audi creates special models to be auctioned at the annual fund-raising White Tie & Tiara Ball, which is attended by A-list celebrities and high-profile media. In 2010, the company donated a pink Audi A1 designed by British artist Damien Hirst; in 2011, two chromed R8 Spyders were auctioned, raising almost $1 million. As a promotional activity, Audi is able to build relationships with celebrity influencers and media contacts, as well as gaining publicity and a reputation for social responsibility in donating to a worthy cause. The car itself has less media value than the associations with celebrities, who are viewed as essential to the publicity process (Turner et al 2000). Again, this tactic is not new in public relations, with the New York publicist Benjamin Sonnenberg famously organizing lavish parties at his Gramercy Park home in the mid-twentieth century (Barmash 1983).

Likewise, publicity stunts have a long history as a promotional technique utilized by public relations practitioners. Borkowski (2000: 7) highlights how ‘past masters of the art’ set up ‘situations which are so intriguing and so bizarre that they are irresistible to the press’. From the use of animals to protest movements, stunts continue to attract public and media attention. Indeed, Basen (2012) considers the 2011 Occupy movement as a promotional phenomenon, both in terms of its brand value and how organizations have sought to identify themselves with it. For example, the Pepsi advert at the 2012 Super Bowl aligned the drink with the general public, not the 1 per cent elite, echoing the Occupy message. The Wall Street Journal (2011) reported the irony of tax-avoiding celebrities visiting Occupy camps, as well as a fashion shoot being held by the Evening Standard newspaper (owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev) at the Occupy London site ‘to celebrate the “radical chic” of the protest movement’.

Kellner (2003: 2) connects the use of staged events and media imagery to the ‘society of the spectacle’ concept proposed by Guy Debord in the 1960s. He considers how media spectacles are increasingly constructed around sporting events, political occurrences and items of news. Daniel Boorstin pointed out the notion of pseudo-events and celebrities who are famous for being famous in the early 1960s (Turner et al 2000). Since then, almost all types of media and public relations have adopted both approaches in attracting attention. This can be seen in the appointment of celebrities to produce policy recommendations for government, and the reporting in the Financial Times (2012) and other

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