PRing Like a Girl

Public Relations has been a growing industry for a few years now. While I have found it to be my perfect fit for me, I feel like all the women before me should be praised. For International Women’s Day, PRWeek put out an article that opened my eyes a little. The article is called “Celebrating women in PR” respectfully, but for me it helped me realize how many women from a different background do just what I want to do for a living.

The article talks a lot about while these women should be praised daily, they are still fighting for equal pay in female dominated industry. To be exact 3 out of every 4 PR pro is female. The article also included article coming soon that would be celebrating the women in the industry. The part that struck me the most was the actual list in the article, I had never realized how many women I had to look up to just by reading PRWeek. The article reads, “take a bow Diana Bradley, Maia Samuel, Joann Whitcher, Brittany Aron, Kara Giannecchini, Allix Berkman, Livvie Zurlini, Aleks Vayntraub, Lindsay Stein, Alison Kanski, Carrie Gavit, Tracie Palmer, Chaeli Marinelli, Jennifer McLaughlin, Kim Cataldi, Louise Boyle, Edelyn Sellitto, Emma Golden, Tracey Harilall, Adele Durham, Maggie Keller, Anna Naumoski, Nicole O’Neill, Amanda Hassler, Bianca Andia, Kisha Allison, Rinagrace Sapang, Katharine Volpe, Jourdan Davis, Carmen Burgos, Donna Santarpia, Paula Fox, Lindsay Maraviglia, Crystal Zhang, and Taylor Pisani.

While I have recently become familiar with what I need to do to achieve my career goals, I have always wanted to find women in the exact field I found interesting. I followed a few on Instagram that I knew of before today. After reading this article it has become prevalent that not only am I passionate about PR, but that I will always be able to fit all of my passions into one job. PR, music, and social justice. I can follow their stories and one day hopefully be a part of it all, by not only being in the PR industry but fighting for equal rights amongst women in the workplace. Especially a woman dominate industry.

What’s big in publicity this week…?

As weeks pass by, there is always a new publicity stunt to get someone’s name out there. While this has been going on for a long time one family that you can’t help hearing about is the Kardashian/Jenner’s. Their pictures are everywhere, they always have their hand in a different business, and just when you think you’ve gotten away from them another K pops up somewhere on social media. This week was no different, and the Kardashian/Jenner’s Momager, Kris Jenner, has perfected the “publicity stunt” for this family. While Public Relations has become a full time job for most companies, organizations, and people with a celebrity status, the KarJenners have decided to keep it in the family. Their mother has found a way to always get the attention back on her daughters and although it may come with its ups and downs, when was the last time you didn’t see Kardashian/Jenner on social media?

“What does Kris Jenner do to keep the fans entertained? Turn the show into a soap opera. It’s common knowledge that soap operas do very well when it comes to staying on air for a long period of time, so it was the perfect change for Keeping up with the Kardashians if they wanted to continue to make this show their career.”

Is she wrong for exploiting their lives this way? Is it just used to make them more famous than they already are? Is this a new wave of public relations?

https://medium.com/@greenieally/kris-jenner-the-marketing-mastermind-you-never-expected-f1889d83a37f

Olivia Pope changed the game!

I started watching Scandal recently and I’ve never felt closer to a character like I’ve found myself to Olivia Pope. When it comes to the way she dresses, the fact that she is a black woman, and the fact that she definitely has a degree in Public Relations she is basically the woman I aspire to be (don’t judge me on this comment, I just started the show). On the show, Olivia Pope owns her own crisis management firm that basically surrounds the political scene at the White House. From that moment I knew I found the avenue of PR I wanted to dive into. I had heard of Crisis Management before, but had never seen the real aspect of it or how it worked. Now although this is fictional, it gave me something to think about. How important is crisis management and how can it be used well in a career? In the times where anything can be turned into a crisis, like Gucci, Prada, and Burberry’s controversial designs to Colin Kaepernick’s brand bring ruined by kneeling during the national anthem, crisis management has seemed to become larger and larger in the PR field. According to PR Week, “[T]Here are five key principles to keep front and center as you confront this new reality:

Authenticity

Transparency

Speed

Agility

Creativity”

With news breaking with a disaster every few days I think these tips are exceptional especially in the age of social media where everything is passed in a hurry.

https://www.prweek.com/article/1455625/5-principles-crisis-management-digital-age

What Gillette Is Doing Right

At the beginning of the year, Gillette released its The Best Man Can Be campaign totaling over 29 million views on Youtube. Following the Me Too movement, the purpose of the video was to highlight behavioral issues seen in countless men over the past year. The company received a mixture of praise and backlash on social media from consumers. Some believed this advertisement was perfect timing to try to help eradicate the “boys will be boys” notion, while others believed it was generalizing all men and putting them in a negative light.

The company responded to its haters in a positive manner claiming, “Our intent is not to blame all men–we know many men are already acting as incredible role models. We want to celebrate that and encourage these men to hold others accountable because a few bad apples are a few too many. We will also be holding ourselves to a higher standard. Because it’s only by challenging ourselves to do more that we get closer to our best.”

Recently, an image of women wearing skin-tight suits with Gillette written across their butts has been resurfaced and criticized on social media for objectifying women. Twitter users have taken it upon themselves to berate the company for having two contradicting messages. They claim the image has been going against everything Gillette has been discussing for the past month. Since then, the company has responded by stating they take full responsibility for the mistakes they’ve made in the past and are working to better the company.

As far as public relations goes, I believe Gillette is doing everything right. The company is taking the time to respond to all of their comments whether they are hateful or nice. Gillette has owned up to its mistakes and pledged to do better in the future. The dialogue between the brand and consumers on social media has been nothing but open, honest and conversational. When it comes to controversy, honest communication between a brand and the public is key.

Schultz., E.J. “Gillette under Social Media Fire for Old Promo That Objectified Women.” Ad Age, Ad Age, 23 Jan. 2019, adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/gillette-social-media-fire-tweets/316358/.

#boycottPrada

Prada’s Sambo keychain that was recalled for looking like blackface
hypebeast.com

In December, Prada received backlash on its Sambo figurine keychain. After companies like H&M received lots of backlash for its “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” sweatshirt, you would think companies would be more careful as to how they portray monkeys and the history of black people in American history. Between their Sambo keychain having big red lips and looking a lot like blackface, a lot of people are unsure on how this keychain made it out of distribution.

Prada’s PR tweeted after the incident, “[1/2] #Prada Group abhors racist imagery. The Pradamalia are fantasy charms composed of elements of the Prada oeuvre. They are imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface. [2/2] #Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery. In this interest we will withdraw the characters in question from display and circulation.” Prada’s public relations team not only received a lot of backlash, but they find no wrong in not being culturally aware. A lot of the internet doesn’t see how Prada could make a move like this with how culturally aware but a lot of people forget Prada is an Italian company and American History isn’t a part of what they learn just like we as Americans don’t learn Italian history.

A lot of celebrities, like Spike Lee and T.I., have decided to boycott Prada recently for its actions and lack of sensitivity in its keychain and answer to the situation on Twitter. Do you think Prada’s PR was right in its answer or are the celebrities boycotting insensitive to the fact that the company is Italian and they didn’t know there was harm?

Prada. “Prada Twitter.” Twitter, Twitter, 14 Dec. 2018, twitter.com/Prada/status/1073614897207017481.

Gucci Faces #BlackfaceBacklash

This week on social media, Gucci faces immense backlash over a sweater the company released that resembles blackface. The sweater was a black, wool turtleneck that the buyer pulls up over the face and covers their nose. The style of the sweater was initially intended to be similar to a fashionable ski mask. On the mouth of the turtleneck, there was a large, red, lip-shaped hole for buyers to use in order to breathe. Just in time for black history month, social media users are calling out the luxury fashion brand for making a product so similar to a racial stereotype. People have noted that this event was similar to one that happened back in December with Prada releasing a keychain with a monkey that had excessively big red lips.

Thousands of Twitter users have taken it upon themselves to tweet pictures of the sweater and description and give their own opinions on the issue. Tariq Nasheed, media personality, tweets “So @gucci puts out a sweater that looks like blackface…..On Black History Month…. And then issues an apology because they didn’t know that blackface images are racist.” Gucci’s public relations team has since then issued an apology and removed the $900 sweater from all physical and online stores. In my opinion, Gucci could have done more with its apology, I believe it was too short and very impersonal. I don’t believe the brand will suffer much damage considering their target market is high income, middle-aged men and women. The brand claimed diversity was important and that it was learning from the controversy that had occurred.

May, A. (2019, February 07). Gucci apologizes for sweater resembling blackface, stops selling balaclava jumper. Retrieved February 07, 2019, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2019/02/07/gucci-blackface-sweater-company-sorry-discontinues-balaclava-jumper/2799227002/